Doris Roberts (left) and Andy Griffith star in "Play the Game." (Story Films Inc. / September 10, 2009) |
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No matter what your age or physical condition, you might feel like calling Dr. Jack Kevorkian after watching "Play the Game," a feeble comedy about a slick car salesman (Paul Campbell) and his attempt to push his endearing widowed grandfather ( Andy Griffith) back into the dating scene.Grandpa Joe is alternately sly and out of it, until he becomes the "wild stallion" of his retirement village with the help of a genie in a bottle labeled Viagra. (His key love interests are played by Jerry Seinfeld's mom in "Seinfeld," Liz Sheridan, and Ray Romano's mom in "Everybody Loves Raymond," Doris Roberts.) Griffith is a game performer, but this awkward three-stage rocket of a part - taking him from cagey old codger to sexual neophyte to white-haired Lothario - sputters at every juncture.
Moviegoers have often applauded tales of second childhood, but this movie is about second adolescence, which is a lot harder to make palatable. Here, there's almost no fun to be had from watching an octogenarian endure every teen affliction except pimples. Griffith gets a laugh or two bobbing on the dance floor in his hiked-up chinos. Then writer-director Marc Fienberg lingers so desperately long on his supposedly hilarious face during arousal that you fear you're living through an account of "Grandpa Joe: The Awkward Years."
While Grandpa Joe finds his way toward sexual awakening, his grandson tires of high-powered sleaze on the car lot or in bars and stumbles into the joys of companionship with a perky, fetching graphic designer (Marla Sokoloff). The whole movie has an all-too-cozy, suburbanized yuppie feel to it. A final turnaround, meant to supply shock and edge, simply seals the movie's not-too-subtle moral: If you play the game just right, you can win true love.
No screening
Sorority Row, in which a mysterious killer goes after five sorority girls who inadvertently caused the death of one of their sisters, and Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, in which Madea catches three youngsters looting her home and delivers them to their nightclub-singer aunt, were not screened for critics.MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sexual content and language)
Running time: 1:45
Starring: Andy Griffith (Grandpa Joe), Paul Campbell (David Mitchell) and Marla Sokoloff (Julie Larabee).
A Slowhand Cinema release. Directed by Marc Fienberg.
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