George Dryer (Gerard Butler) is a retired soccer star living in Virginia to be near his son living with his ex-wife Stacie (Jessica Biel). George still loves his ex and doesn't take the news of her up coming wedding too well. Having financial difficulty causes George to coach his son's (Noah Lomax) mixed league soccer team to the joy of soccer moms.Being a good looking guy with an accent, women such as Catharine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, and Judy Greer all throw themselves at him. George is not a man accustomed to saying no, but Jessica Biel is a tough act to follow, just ask her if you don't believe me.This is not a guy's film. Soccer is in the background and knowledge of the sport doesn't make the film any better. This is perhaps a chick flick for people who don't want to get emotional. Might make for a mediocre date night film if you haven't seen "An Officer and a Gentlemen" 10 times already. Good acting. Weak script.Parental Guide: No f-bombs or nudity. Implied sex. Use of "SOB".

Remember Gerard Butler, the hunky heartthrob of the early 2000s? Well, at the tail end of his career, he made a film about a has-been who gets a second chance to figure out what really matters. The lessons he learns are a bit corny, and most of the side characters are pretty one-dimensional, but Gerard's hair is cute and curly and he does have his signature shirtless scene, so it's not all bad.He's a former soccer star who tries to reconnect with his son, Noah Lomax, and his ex-wife, Jessica Biel. I'm not sure if the audience is supposed to think he's a bad dad or if that part of the film is supposed to be heartwarming in an "Aw, he doesn't know what he's doing and neither do I" kind of way, but my thoughts belonged in the former category. Meanwhile, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, and Judy Greer all develop crushes on the new dad in town. Dennis Quaid adds extra star power to the cast, playing Uma's clueless husband who just thinks of Gerard as a pal. Like his character, nobody else is written to be particularly likable or compelling. Jessica Biel's character is the only one with a backbone, but as soon as Gerard starts working his charms, she turns into jelly just like everyone else. I guess the lesson of the film is if you have beautiful hair, a charming accent, and a signature shirtless scene, you can get away with anything. But, fans who remember him in all his former glory will probably end up sitting through this "feel good flick". I did.

Since just before the turn of the 21st century, Hollywood began turning out a number of movies about broken marriages and families being restored. Often times, they have a syrupy appeal that doesn't seem quite real. Aside from the comic book and animated sci-fi or action films, the "reform or conversion" stories seem to be one of the most common put on film so far – well into the next century. They seem to be a genre all their own. Well, "Playing for Keeps" was a 2012 rendition of such a film. But this one assembled an impressive cast of name characters. Some of the acting is overboard, but much of it is OK to good. The problem is with the story and screenplay. The comedy (a real stretch of the word in this film) is provided mostly by the lusting women who make up Hollywood's gratuitous scenarios for sex. Although very little explicit is shown, what there is burdens the film. One wonders why "soccer moms" or single moms don't rail against such stereotyping of women as this in the movies. Anyway, that's enough of a distraction to dampen the rest of the movie and the main plot. Dynamite acting might have saved it, but minus that the film comes across mostly as a lame attempt at a feel-good film. I give it five stars mostly for the good performance by child actor Noah Lomax as Lewis. Dennis Quaid's character, Carl, is something different for him, and not bad. Most of the rest are just so-so.

Maybe I outgrown the family movies with the cute kid and the family is all you've got movies, or maybe this movie was more about the first character, George, and not for the relationship between the kid and his dad. Probably the second one. So George is a former soccer player who becomes the couch of his son's soccer team, something that makes the soccer mums bewilder. First of all, the movie has no story. I don't really know where we were heading, till the last twenty minutes. Secondly, there is no deep in the story. George just cruises over one sexual relationship after the other, screwing it up with his kid and then fixing things up by letting him drive and playing soccer in the rain. Really? And to top it all, his relationship with his ex wife is a mess up, with him being in a really bad economical situation, but still focusing on his love life.