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Movies / Upcoming / Play the Game
Play the Game

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Play the Game (2009)

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Reviews Counted:10

Fresh:1

Rotten:9

Average Rating:3.6/10

Consensus: Andy Griffith is his usually likable self, but he's stranded in a middling comedy that's surprisingly tasteless and poorly crafted.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content and language

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Aug 28, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $456,536

Synopsis: Writer/Director Marc Fienberg’s PLAY THE GAME is an original comedy with surprising and clever twists about a young ladies' man, David, who teaches his dating tricks to his lonely, widowed... Writer/Director Marc Fienberg’s PLAY THE GAME is an original comedy with surprising and clever twists about a young ladies' man, David, who teaches his dating tricks to his lonely, widowed grandfather Joe, while playing his best mind games to meet Julie, the woman of his dreams. But as David's supposedly foolproof techniques fail him, Grandpa Joe quickly transforms into the Don Juan of the retirement community. Slowly, the teacher becomes the student, and it's up to Grandpa to teach David that the best way to win the game of love is not to play games at all. But both David and Grandpa Joe may have met their match in more ways than one, leading to a surprise twist ending that makes the audience look back at the entire film in a new light.

As a bonus, PLAY THE GAME presents three beloved television stars – Andy Griffith, Doris Roberts, and Liz Sheridan – in "romantic" situations as you've never seen them before, and continues Andy’s meteoric career renaissance that began with last year’s indie darling, Waitress. --© Official Site [More]

Starring: Andy Griffith, Paul Campbell, Liz Sheridan, Doris Roberts

Starring: Andy Griffith, Paul Campbell, Liz Sheridan, Doris Roberts, Marla Sokoloff, Clint Howard, Rance Howard, Geoffrey Owens, Juliette Jeffers

Director: Marc Fienberg

Director: Marc Fienberg
Screenwriter: Marc Fienberg
Producer: Marc Fienberg
Composer: Jim Latham
Studio: Slowhand Cinema

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Reviews for Play the Game

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While Fienberg's direction is no great shakes, the film showcases its veteran cast.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/28/09
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Stay home and find yourself a Golden Girls marathon.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
08/28/09
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
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Play the Game has all kinds of good intentions, but the comedy is too broad and the pacing is clumsy. Take away the dirty parts, and this is the type of thing you can get for free on the Hallmark Channel every day.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/28/09
Peter Hartlaub
Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle
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Veering between syrupy sweet and awkwardly dirty, Play the Game is a woefully scoreless exercise.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
08/28/09
Robert Abele
Robert Abele
Los Angeles Times
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The good news is that the seemingly perennial TV fixture is still funny and sharp and folksy. The bad news is that he lost the bet, or whatever it was that got him into Marc Fienberg's smarmy, lackluster comedy.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
08/28/09
John Anderson
John Anderson
Washington Post
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Surely, there is a way of expressing the joy of sex without the potty-mouthed dialogue that desecrates the persona of a television and movie icon.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
08/27/09
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
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A film in which comedic maturity is measured in jokes about hemorrhoids, constipation, and erectile dysfunction.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/27/09
Janice Page
Janice Page
Boston Globe
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It’s The Andy Griffith Show meets Seinfeld in the sack in Play the Game, which shows Andy is not too old to star in a sex comedy, I guess.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
08/27/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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This Lifetime-ready comedy is hardly provocative -- let alone perceptive, funny, or fresh.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
08/25/09
Aaron Hillis
Aaron Hillis
Village Voice
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The comedy's broad perfs, predictable story beats and pro but characterless packaging have a smallscreen feel.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
08/20/09
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
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