Play the Game
Studio: Slowhand Releasing
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Paul Campbell (VII), Andy Griffith, Doris Roberts, Marla Sokoloff, Liz Sheridan (II)
Director: Marc Fienberg
WorkNameSort: Play the Game
Our Rating: 2.00
What bizarre set of circumstances was conjured up by the cinema jesters to secure a theatrical release for this should-be Lifetime movie of the week? Starring Andy Griffith and the kid from the new Knight Rider (Paul Campbell), this agonizing romantic comedy about a nice boy and his grandpa relearning the ‘game of loveâ?� raises far more questions than it answers. For example: Does 28-year-old writer-director Marc Fienberg really think senior citizens still call movies ‘talkiesâ?�? In a scene in which a randy old woman slips Griffith some Viagra without his knowledge, are we to believe she’s trying to sleep with him or kill him, given that she doesn’t know the first thing about his medical history? And does anybody anywhere want to see Andy Griffith’s O face?
I’m sure Fienberg is a nice boy who loves his own grandparents very much, and he’s trying to make a film they can enjoy. But the idea that it’s funny for old people to dress in hip-hop clothes and say things like ‘dopeâ?� and ‘tightâ?� left the building when Steve Martin couldn’t pull it off with Queen Latifah. And Andy Griffith, as great as he is, is no Steve Martin.
Likewise Fienberg’s plodding humor and middling dual romantic subplots, which reduce the pursued women (The Practice‘s Marla Sokoloff and Everybody Loves Raymond‘s Doris Roberts, both fine actresses who deserve better) to eye-rolling enablers of the neutered male gaze.
How could such an aggressively mediocre film gain a theatrical run, when so many innovative independent films linger in obscurity? The blame lies with Slowhand Cinema Releasing, former Miramax executive Marty Zeidman’s DIY distribution company that allows pandering tripe like the faith-based 9/11 parable Into the Fire and Jon Voight’s Mormon-attacking 9/11 parable September Dawn to infect theaters.
With Play the Game, Slowhand’s celluloid molestation isn’t nearly as offensive as their past crimes ‘ in fact, the film’s goal is to offend nobody ‘ but Fienberg’s miscalculation of what elderly filmgoers seek out will probably prove just as disastrous as everything else in Slowhand’s canon.
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2009.