'Play the Game': A crass, formulaic rom-com about randy senior citizens

There's a good comedy to be made about sex among seniors, but the low-budget indie film "Play the Game" is not that movie. It tries too hard to please with cloying wholesomeness and lame humor that would barely pass muster in a marginal sitcom.

First-time writer-director Marc Feinberg clearly has the best intentions, but his self-distributed movie is so self-consciously condescending that it becomes a good- natured ordeal.

It's supposed to be funny when the tables turn and 84-year-old widower Joe (Andy Griffith) becomes "a retirement-home gigolo" while his womanizing grandson David (Paul Campbell) struggles to hook up with Julie (Marla Sokoloff), a sensible sweetheart whose grandmother Rose (Doris Roberts) is Joe's latest target for conquest.

Instead, the laughs fall flat as we're subjected to jokes about Viagra, hemorrhoid remedies and Andy Rooney retrospectives on "60 Minutes." For anyone who loved Griffith as the sheriff of Mayberry, a close-up of Joe's expression as he receives oral sex may prove more traumatic than funny. It's not the movie's low point, however. That comes when young-at-heart Joe dons hip-hop gear and uses street slang like "sick" and "dope." (Seniors, please don't try this at the retirement home. It's just embarrassing.)

There's no pleasure in trashing well-meaning mediocrity, but "Play the Game" bears only marginal resemblance to reality as it slavishly follows the rom-com rule book.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net