Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 44
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 29
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 10
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 19,421
A small-time pool shark with dreams of the big time seeks revenge against the mentor who did him wrong in this drama. Johnny Doyle (Mars Callahan) was a teenaged orphan when Joe (Chazz Palminteri) took him under his wing and taught him everything there is to know about shooting pool. Johnny became a genius with a cue, but while he dreamed of becoming a respected professional billiards player, Joe preferred to keep him working along the lower rungs of pool hustling. When Johnny learns just how
Jun 8, 2002 Wide
Aug 26, 2003
$0.5M
Samuel Goldwyn Films
All Critics (48) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (29) | DVD (12)
This brash little indie is oddly endearing and fun to be around.
Whatever you want to say about this Mars Callaghan -- who is an avid cue-man in real life -- he would seem to be able to sink anything. Darned if he doesn't make this whole movie disappear.
As a director, Callahan wants the verve that Martin Scorsese brought to The Color of Money, but his visual approach is careless, relying too much on clichéd slo-mo and hasty edits.
[A]ll of it just seems so familiar and so trite, we know exactly where this is going.
90 minutes of slow-leaking, macho stomach gas, in which everyone talks like they were on brawny pills and every tawdry song on the soundtrack makes you feel as if you were trapped in a lap dance club.
This film coulda been a contender if Callahan hadn't worn so many hats -- but it has moments that make it worth waiting for on video.
The fast-paced picture sizzles with energy, and it's a tour de force for Mars Callahan, who co-wrote and directed.
A lowlife billiards drama that lacks the drive and edginess of the classic The Hustler, Poolhall Junkies does get by on its humor, energy and earnest charm.
With a better lead and more inspired direction, Poolhall Junkies might have been decent entertainment. But Callahan the actor is the biggest liability in Callahan the director's film.
If you saw this film, then you were hustled.
A low-profile DVD edition for sure, but you're probably just buying this disc for yet another Christopher Walken scenery-chewing smackdown, aren't you?
When Christopher Walken saunters into Poolhall Junkies, he kicks it from so-so to worthwhile.
Though there's not much in Poolhall Junkies we haven't seen many times before, the film manages to remain mostly entertaining due mostly to some surprisingly effective performances and a brisk pace.
It's disreputable, occasionally ludicrous and merely kinda fun.
About as disposable as a B-movie can get.
The snappy dialogue and cool characters provide enough pure entertainment to make this is a fun flick.
I haven't enjoyed a cheesy, over-acted B-movie as much since Eddie And The Cruisers.
The result is by no means the embarrassment that many such offerings from unjustifiably vain actor-auteurs have been, but nor does it present much of anything new or compelling to demand one's attention.
Interesting concept for a film, Poolhall Junkies is the story of a Proffesional pool player and hustler Johnny Dyole who wants to go ligit and break away from his dishonest mentor, Joe. The film is at times uneven, and you can see that there are aspects that they could have improved on, but for the most part it's
May 23, 2011
Super Reviewer
Mike: What do you call a thousand lawyers buried up to their necks in sand?Johnny Doyle: What?Mike: Not enough sand.A very fun movie about hustlers in the poolhall. There isn't much too it, a lot like the movie Rounders, but this doesn't take itself as serious. It's fun, has a lot of cool pool shots that aren't fakes
December 1, 2006Super Reviewer
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