Gerard Butler’s Worst Movie Is So Awful You Can’t Stream It Anywhere
Gerard Butler's movie Playing for Keeps is so bad that it isn't available to stream anywhere.
Gerard Butler is an A-list star who has been in some pretty great movies across many genres. He’s a certified action hero, having stared in 300 and Law Abiding Citizen, he’s been in critically acclaimed thrillers like 2023’s Plane (which has already been greenlit for a sequel), played the love interest in many romantic comedies, including The Ugly Truth with Katherine Hegal and The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston, and voiced beloved animated characters like Stoick in the How To Train Your Dragon franchise. But, like every good actor, Butler has also been in a couple of duds—most notably his worst movie ever, Playing for Keeps, which is so bad, it can’t be streamed anywhere.
For a guy who can belt it out and break your heart at the same time, like he did in 2004’s The Phantom of the Opera, it’s a little surprising that there’s a movie in his filmography that failed so badly that critics on Rotten Tomatoes rated it 4 percent. The low rating doesn’t just make it one of Gerard Butler’s worst movies but also one of the worst movies ever made, at least according to that review aggregator site. And while other popular review sites like IMDb and Metacritic are slightly gentler on the rom-com, even these sites rate the film pretty low, with IMDb giving it 5.7 out of 10 stars and Metacritic scoring it 27 out of 100.
Playing for Keeps was a film that was behind the times when it was released in 2012, long after most moviemakers had caught on to the fact that people simply wouldn’t tolerate misogynistic comedy anymore. Gerard Butler’s worst movie follows the story of a former sports star named George (Butler) who is trying to get his life together but darn it, all these women who keep falling in love with him continue to get in his way of growing up.
With an A-list cast that included Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, production company Nu Image probably thought it was a shoo-in for comedy of the year; unfortunately, the terrible script by Robbie Fox (Grand-Daddy Day Care) ruined any chance of that happening.
The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes argues that Playing for Keeps is Gerard Butler’s worst movie because it is a “witless, unfocused, and arguably misogynistic… a dispiriting, lowest-common-denominator Hollywood rom-com.” One critic argued that the film was simply a vehicle to recycle “tired, flawed lessons about masculinity,” while another admitted that while the movie had the occasional funny moment, they were few and far between, which is unexpected for a film with such a high-powered cast. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, highlighting that Jessica Biel’s performance was the only redeemable aspect of the film.
In general, audience reviews tend to be more forgiving than critical reviews, but movie-goers also seemed to have it in for Playing for Keeps. While the audience score was much higher than the critical score, the 41 percent approval rating is still pretty abysmal. Audience members agreed that Playing for Keeps is one of the worst movies to ever be released in the romantic comedy genre, though many forgave the film for its recycled fluff and witless dialog because “Gerard Butler is unbelievably hot in this.”
Whether you think Gerard Butler is hot or not, most agree that his worst movie is not worth the hour and 45 minutes it takes to watch. In fact, the film was only nominated for one award, and it isn’t one that filmmakers actually want. Despite being many critics’ favorite part of the movie, Biel was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress, though she lost to Rihanna in Battleship.
Playing for Keeps ended up being a major disappointment for all who were involved in the movie, and is not just considered Gerard Butler’s worst movie, but the worst movie for the majority of the cast involved (although not for Dennis Quaid, who’s worst movie is the mystery thriller Beneath the Darkness, which earned a doubly rotten 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). The failed romantic comedy cost between $35-55 million to make but only earned $27.8 million worldwide, barely making back half of the production cost.
So, if you’re looking for a sweet rom-com to watch tonight, it’s probably best to take the advice of film reviewer Peter Travers from Rolling Stone: “Just Stay Away. It’s awful.”
