'playing For Keeps' Review: A Trifle

'Playing for Keeps' review: A trifle [...] the movie doesn't merely showcase his charm; its deficiencies work to highlight it. An hour into "Playing for Keeps," you might wake up to realize vaguely that nothing much has happened, but you might also realize that it has taken a full hour to notice, and start to mind. [...] it's pleasant enough to watch this guy ambling and stumbling through life, and the fact that a succession of beautiful co-stars - Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Judy Greer and Catherine Zeta-Jones - are ambling along with him doesn't hurt one bit. He takes on the job of coaching his son's soccer team, but this is no sports movie about a driven coach. [...] he seems as if he might like to get back with his wife, but he's not losing sleep over her. Because Butler looks like an effective person - simply standing there - his passivity plays like the conscious choice of a fellow who could throw his weight around, but chooses not to, out of taste or politeness or an unwillingness to upset people. [...] with all the world available to him, the soccer champ's growing preoccupation with his ex-wife becomes mystifying, especially in that Biel has a drab role.