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(Ah yes, there's a whole subplot in which George aspires to be a sports anchor and magically gets a job offer as a soccer analyst on ESPN, despite having zero on-air experience, after just one audition. Because there's a bounty of TV gigs out there just ripe for the picking. Do you think he'll leave this family, just as he's started to bond with them again, and move to Bristol, Conn., to take it???) The men don't fare much better. Dennis Quaid is singularly manic and skeevy as Thurman's husband, a flashy high roller with a wicked jealous streak. And Stacie's personality-free fiance (James Tupper) apparently has no job, friends or interests, but rather hangs around the house all day waiting to answer the front door disapprovingly when George arrives to pick up his son. The one woman with an actual backbone and sense of values in this movie is Biel's character. Unfortunately, she's also rendered as bland, conservative and, oddly, a little frumpy. It's difficult to tell what sort of magic these two forged together years ago and flat-out impossible to care whether they'll reconcile, although
-- spoiler! -- that's just one of the many elements of the lazy, formulaic game plan in play here. "Playing for Keeps," a FilmDistrict release, is rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image. Running time: 105 minutes. Zero stars out of four. ___ Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for PG-13: Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
[Associated
Press;
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