Play the Game (2008)

Please save yourself the grief and pass on watching Play the Game if you think Andy Griffith should be freeze-dried in the 1950s and never seen outside of his roles in Mayberry RFD, A Face in the Crowd, and Matlock. (Who could think about having a "relationship," much less intimacy, with Aunt Bea in the house? After all, in 1953 TV audiences couldn't deal with Lucy and Desi wearing pajamas except in separate twin beds.) If that is the Andy you want to remember, you are guaranteed to get apoplexy from this film and should avoid it at all costs. However, if you are (I'm spitballing) a twentysomething or else retired -- or anywhere in between -- that believes humans are not sex-avoidant creatures, then you might find yourself laughing a lot. It will probably depend on whether you find Andy's old-guy dancing in the beginning (and during the end credits) to be a sorry sight or a funny one. Our story begins as the widower Joe (Andy) grows morose in his retirement digs, paid for by his good-guy grandson David, who is a highly successful if Machiavellian sportscar salesman. Something of a ladykiller, David scouts the showroom floor to clinch a sale as strategically as he reconnoiters each rendezvous with a female patron in the local watering hole (even recruiting his married friend to force a spilled drink on him as a conversation starter). Like the dudes in The Tao of Steve and Wedding Crashers, David has skirtchasing down to a science -- until he meets the one girl his best game won't work on (and who may be gaming him) in the smart and cute Julie. Meanwhile, with David's coaching and encouragement, Joe has taken up with a post-hot-flash hottie Edna (Liz Sheridan) who has the hots for his tater tots. She introduces Andy, who has so far only been with one woman, to the blue pill then noncommittally calls him "a wild stallion who must run free." He goes off the deep end, thinking he's a real "chick maggot." Part of this film's appeal will be to people who love Andy no matter what he does. Part of its appeal will be to older folks who see themselves in Andy's dating fumbles and sex-farce hijinks. (His face no longer as expressive, so some of his jowl-flapping sex jabber and actions were frankly disturbing to me.) Part of its appeal will be to younger people who laugh at old folks doing stuff one didn't think (and sometimes don't want to know) old folks do. So this movie gets a mixed verdict. The developing relationship between Joe and Rose (Doris Roberts) is endearing (esp. as a twist reveals in the final five minutes -- hey, just like Matlock). Andy's antics may seem creepy to a crowd too young to have jowls much less care to kiss a partner's and two supposedly comical scenes of geriatric climax may scar some peeps under 30. In any event, Andy gets game (and the ever-whuffling Doris Roberts). A less-creepy movie would have won 4 stars but since I find the smell of Ben-Gay to be very unsexy, 3.5 stars. (6-15-10 posted 2-2-11)