Playing for Keeps

First Hit:  Predictable film, some strong moments, and generally disappointing with this strong cast.

George (played by Gerard Butler) is a finished professional soccer player from Scotland. He was famous, blew through his money, and is now looking for work.

He’s also is divorced from Stacie (played by Jessica Biel) who is living with their son Lewis (played by Noah Lomax) and her fiance (played by James Tupper). While trying to find a job he moves near his son and ex-wife and becomes the soccer coach for his son’s team. He is a hit and the team begins to score and win games.

However, as expected the parents of the kids on the team want to influence the coach to play their kid or provide special coaching. Making it more complex is that George is a ladies man and all the divorcees want a piece of him in more ways than one. To this end we have Uma Thurman (Patti) who is married to Carl (played by Dennis Quaid).

Patti wants to have an affair with George while Carl, who influences the team and George with money, will kill anyone who has an affair with his wife. There is also Denise (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) who has influence at ESPN and uses her sexuality and connections to influence George.

Lastly, there is Barb (played by Judy Greer) who is freshly divorced and is prime for sex. Besides the predictability of the film, it sets things up but then lets them go. Example: Carl gives George a bunch of money for the team and George uses it for his rent and deposit on his new digs but there is no consequence for this action.

Butler is good and fits the role well but it just seems so predictable. Biel is very good and she and Butler create a wonderful chemistry. There are a couple of scenes when they are speaking with each other that were really strong. Quaid’s role was odd and not very well thought-out. Zeta-Jones was good and created some fun in the film. Thurman is oddly interesting as a lonely unhappy lush wife. Greer is one of the more interesting people in the film with her emotional jags. Robbie Fox wrote a bland screenplay. Gabriele Muccino directed this film in a very safe way. There wasn’t anything that really stood out or was detrimental. It was safe.

Overall:  This film would be a good Sunday evening family DVD or streaming watch.

Bel Ami

First Hit:  The idea of the film is good but with Pattinson as the lead it goes nowhere.

This story is supposed to be about a man’s rise to power through his guile and the women he beds. Or is it?

The film begins with watching Georges Duroy (played by Robert Pattinson) taking his last few bits of money off a table going to a bar to spend it on beer while he watches his favorite whore goes off with someone with money.

He runs into his old north African army buddy Charles Forestier (played by Philip Glenister) who buys him some champagne and invites him over for a party while loaning him money for clothes. At the party he meets Charles’ wife Madeleine (played by Uma Thurman) to whom he is immediately attracted. He also meets Clotilde (played by Christina Ricci) a young beautiful woman with a child.

The setup is that he thinks he is a ladies man or player (as they would say today). The problem is that there isn’t anything about his character that is attractive or interesting. Charles gets him a job at Rousset Walters’ (played by Colm Meaney) newspaper.

Here he does nothing, adds no value, and uses stories developed and written by Madeleine. He is a caricature of someone who brings value to the table. He meets Rousseau’s wife Virginie (played by Kristen Scott Thomas) and the script has her attracted to him.

I don’t see how Clotilde, Madeleine or Virginie found Georges attractive except that is what the script said for them to be. He brings nothing to his character except some facial good looks (somewhat pained) but his body is mediocre and his eyes are absolutely vacant.

Pattinson is not much of an actor and his vacant eyes might be great for the role of a vampire but if he’s going to do anything else, he’s got to learn to bring something from his soul out through his eyes and to the audience. Glenister is good as the former army mate and someone who wanted to give Georges a chance. Thurman elevates herself from the rest and takes charge of her role. Ricci was great as the woman who cares regardless of how she is treated. Meaney is good as the tough newspaper editor who is also looking out only for himself. Scott Thomas is interesting as a woman who is rather cold and distant to needy and wanting. Rachel Bennette wrote an interesting screenplay. Directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod had a good script and some great actors except for Pattinson in the lead role.

Overall:  The film had possibilities but with Pattinson in the lead it was dead on arrival.

The Life Before Her Eyes

First Hit: An outstanding, thoughtful, beautifully photographed film.

Staring Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman, both playing Diana. One as a high school senior and the other 15 years later as a wife and mother.

This film is extraordinary in both how it was put together and its acting. Young Diana is a rebellious type who is also deeply thoughtful and heart filled. She acts out in ways that have her labeled as a slut but it is, like most high school labels, incorrect. She spends a lot of her time high on pot and skipping school but is also curious about life in a retrospective way.

Her best friend Maureen (played by Eva Amurri) is a Christian and provides an interesting and insightful counter balance to their relationship. Young Diana wants her life to start and cannot wait for it to happen and she believes it will be away from the small home town she lives in.

Maureen on the other hand wants to marry her first love, have children, and spend the rest of her life right where she is. Uma, playing the older haunted Diana, is married and with a daughter who's as precious as she was when she was young.

Older Diana’s skittishness and haunting behavior is immediately revealed because the film takes place in the week of the 15th anniversary of a Columbine type shooting on their high school campus.

Young Diana was told by the killer just prior to the shooting that he might do it, however she disregarded his threat and feels horrible about it.

There isn’t much else to say about the plot without giving too many things away, however this film will stick with you and keep you asking questions about it long after you leave the theater. There are many levels to what the film is saying. Vadim Perelman directed this beautifully executed film. The timeline is not in sequence, nor can it be to give the real sense of the depth of remembrance for the older Diana. The scenes are beautifully shot and the collage of colors, sequences, angles, and movement between past and future is extraordinary. Uma Thurman is outstanding in her role and carries the energy, fear and wisdom the younger Diana. Evan Rachel Wood, gives another stellar performance. Just like in “13” and “Down in the Valley”, she makes you watch and engage with her as her character reveals herself during the performance.

Overall: This film is one of depth, beauty, and the complications of life laid out as life is, full of questions, doubts, and love.