John Dahl directed this exploration of New York private clubs devoted to high-stakes poker, with first-person narration from the film's central figure, law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who loses his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). Mike then turns away from cards, devoting his attentions to his law studies and his live-in girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), who's concerned when Mike's former gambling buddy Worm (Edward Norton) is released from prison. She has
good reason to worry, since it takes Worm only a matter of minutes to draw Mike back into poker action. When she learns Mike has returned to the poker clubs, she moves out, and Mike begins to lose interest in his studies. Worm has a pre-prison debt, and the threatening Grama (Michael Rispoli) wants the money. Mike not only indulges the irresponsible Worm, he gets involved in Worm's debts. When Grama demands $15,000 on a five-day deadline, the two buddies go into high gear with a non-stop, no-sleep gambling binge that spirals downward toward an ultimate confrontation with Teddy KGB. Darkened club interiors and New York nights are captured by the cinematography of Jean Yves Escoffier, who moved from French films (the 1991 Les Amants du Pont Neuf) to American movies with the reflective surfaces of Excess Baggage (1997) and the patina of pathos found in Harmony Korine's experimental Gummo (1997). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
The wholesome pup's poker face alone, however, hardly accounts for the film's failure to thrill. Damon's character doesn't really have that much stake in the story's outcome.
Gretchen Mol, Edward Norton, John Turturro, Martin Landau, and Famke Janssen costar; they're all pretty good, but not good enough to make this 1998 feature worth seeing.
Though it's a good-looking flick with some smart acting and a few flashy runs, it barely breaks even dramatically, and feels, overall, like a good chance wasted.
In fighting to show the psychological complexities in Mike that the script ignores, Damon plays it like a rounder instead of a grinder. This kid still has surprises up his sleeve.
In his first non-noir film, John Dahl, assisted by the great French lenser Jean-Yves Escoffier, gives New York's underground gambling scene a vivid atmopshere, with special attention to its particular rituals and fast macho talk.
Other directors simply pay homage to film noir and their movies come across as copies or throwbacks, but Dahl's movies work because he seems to understand the inner workings of film noir, and the absurd situations that people can get into.
I've always thought Rounders was a near-perfect movie. Watching the Special Edition DVD confirmed that and, in fact, may even have upgraded my opinion.
Mike McDermott: It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money. "In The Game Of Life... Play The Hands You're Dealt."Too be completely honest there was really no way I was not going to like this. Matt Damon and two of my favorite actors, Edward Norton and John Malkovich in a Poker movie. That's pretty cool and the movie
turns out to be just as cool as I thought it would. It probably helps if you're a fan and player of poker. I enjoyed the film because I knew what the acts were saying, but if I didn't understand the logic of the games I probably would have had a hard time liking it. So keep that in mind if you aren't in the know when it comes to poker.Matt Damon plays a straight playing and very talented poker player. He can tell what you have as soon as you look at your cards. Edward Norton plays a schemer who always finds himself in trouble. Then you got John Turturro who plays a Grinder. He wins just enough to get by and never takes too big a risk. Malkovich plays a big shot Russian who owns his own club. Gretchen Mol is very good and easy on the eyes as the girlfriend Mike.The story is engaging and it's incredibly fun to watch Norton and Damon onscreen together. The poker scenes are surprisingly entertaining. After the first part of the movie, it's pretty obvious what is going to happen though. We know who Damon is going to be in the last showdown with. But it all still works effectively because Damon gives an amazing performance. The movie easily could have been dull and boring, and might be to people who don't know anything about poker. But for those who do, the movie is extremely watchable and easy to like.
August 19, 2011
Melvin White
Super Reviewer
A shallow film with some good characters but leaves nothing memorable.
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