Marisa Tomei Movie:

		List Price: $9.99		Label: Universal Studios Salesrank: 61152 Released: August 12, 2003
		Our Price: $0.90
		Used Price: $0.01
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 6-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Playing For Keeps Reviews:
A Charming Flick Despite The Fluff
2009-03-17 - You've just graduated from your inner-city New York high school and the future looks bleak. What do you do? You open up a rock n' roll hotel, that's what!

Daniel Jordano, Matthew Penn and Leon W. Grant are three streetwise teens who find adult life to be a bit tough. After visiting an employment office, the athletic Spikes (Penn) is offered a bicycle delivery job. The always dancing Silk (Grant) is given the chance to work his moves as a janitor. Meanwhile their daydreaming (and always positive) best pal, Danny (Jordano), has just quit his job and finds out that one of his deceased relatives has left a dilapidated hotel in the country with $8,000 in taxes to his mother.

After a hokey money-raising scheme proves successful, Danny and his friends pay off the taxes and decide to renovate the clunker into a rock n' roll resort. Unfortunately for them, one of the town's leaders has plans of his own for the hotel. He uses smalltown politics and good old-fashioned bully tactics to try and force the three out of there dream.

The plot of the film is downright cheesy. As I watched the film, I kept thinking to myself, "Why am I still watching this?" Yet for some odd reason, I found myself enjoying "Playing For Keeps" much more than I should have. It's so hokey that it's actually fun to watch. Be prepared for random song and dance sequences and a few hilarious dream sequences as well.

The trio at the forefront of the film do a decent job with their performances. Granted, there's not much to work with here, but they at least make the film likeable. Marisa Tomei has a decent supporting role as Spikes' girlfriend. She's featured on the DVD case as well, which is an obvious attempt to draw in buyers since she's the biggest name in the film (but was a relative nobody at the time of the film's release). Mary B. Ward plays Chloe, Danny's love interest in the film. Also of note is the always-reliable Harold Gould as Rockerfeller, a homeless man living in the hotel. Robert Milli does a stand-up job as Cromwell, the primary villain in this flick.

It's written and directed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein with an additional writing credit given to Jeremy Leven. It's also the first film from Miramax (the Weinstein's company). It's rated PG-13 due to a bit of strong language, a little sexuality and one brief, lowlighted incidence of nudity from Ward's character, Chloe. Parents might want to preview this film before letting youngsters watch it.

It should also be noted that this film features an excellent soundtrack that features Phil Collins, Pete Townshend, Julian Lennon and solid performances from other pop rock acts from the 80's.

Do I recommend "Playing For Keeps?" Yes and no. I recommend it to people who want to look back on their days in the 80's and who love 80's music. I also recommend it to fans of very lighthearted teen comedies. Other than people who fit those categories, however, I only mildly recommend this film as a rental. You won't feel as if you've wasted your entire evening, but you could probably come up with a few things to do that you would have enjoyed more.

Good Movie!
2008-04-09 - Playing for Keeps was a good movie, funny, romantic, and had a messsage to not give up on ur dreams. Three high school graduates from the Big City decided to turn a run down hotel into a rock n roll resort. Though it took them alot of time & patience, they accomplished that goal. Though the slimy Chemical owner & Cromwell tried to buy the land to put a Chemical plant, they never failed in doing so. Though the people of that suburban town didn't like them they are here to stay! I recommend this movie for anyone who likes to watch comedy. Trust me you will like Playing for Keeps too:)

Funny Movie
2006-04-16 - I have PLAYING FOR KEEPS on laserdisc And On dvd as well,'tis One Of My Greatest 80s movies :)

3 Cheers for My Hometown
2004-07-22 - Well, I grew up and still live near in the town where this was filmed. I saw part of this film on TV first. It was pretty unnerving to flip the channel and see familiar streets and buildings; like being in the Twilight Zone.

The only reason I purchased this movie was because of where it was filmed. The movie itself is cheesy, corny, and rather poorly done like most teen oriented films of the 80's, though it had a LOT of potential... I must say, I'm quite surprised to see it out on DVD - wish I had come to Amazon before going to eBay and buying it on VHS!

If you like cheese, smalltown people made to look like dumb hicks, and teen power, then this is a must see. Otherwise, if you're not from the area it was filmed, it's almost a waste of time. Almost...it *is* pretty funny as long as you're not taking the movie seriously and considering it a drama like the little sticker on the box says....

Marketing tricks
2004-03-08 - Well, it's always a pleasure watching Marisa Tomei and I'm not the only one who thinks so. So when you want to sell a DVD you put her on the cover of the box, without mentioning ofcourse that she has only a tiny supporting role in this movie, like 6 minutes of exposure. So I bought it, watched the movie and was very much dissappointed. This is a movie of below-average quality, only suitable for 16-year-olds that have an evening off and don't know what to do with themselves. Too bad.....