Rounders (1998)
16KRounders: Directed by John Dahl. With Matt Damon, Gretchen Mol, John Malkovich, Paul Cicero. A young, reformed gambler must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks, while balancing his relationship with his girlfriend and his commitments to law school.
“Mike is a law student who is also a skilled poker player. However when he loses everything to Russian player KGB he promises his girlfriend that heu0026#39;ll quit playing. However a year later Mikeu0026#39;s friend Worm comes out of prison and immediately entices Mike into an easy game. Worm still has outstanding debts and Mike is drawn back into this world in order to help him win enough to pay them off.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI taped this off TV with no real hope for it. I knew it hadnu0026#39;t done well at the cinema and that it wasnu0026#39;t exactly a well known film so I assumed it must be pretty poor. However I was sold on it by the end and, although itu0026#39;s not brillant, itu0026#39;s good enough to watch at least once. The plot is pretty simple but the characters make it watchable and the poker action is good. How many of us long to be Mike to be able to read a table like that etc? The poker scenes may not all have excitement (you know whou0026#39;ll win) but they are interesting to watch.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDamon caused me pause to doubt when he first came on the screen. I just saw him in `Bourne Identityu0026#39; and here he looks very young compared to that. However once I got past his baby face I accepted him although someone else might have been better. Norton is great as always and very watchable. Good support comes from an understated Turturro, Janssen, Landau and a slightly hammy Malkovich. However they all do well given that they all drive the thin plot and make the film watchable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall itu0026#39;s not a great piece of work but it does have some really good performances and it works well as a drama with knobs on. I wouldnu0026#39;t buy it but Iu0026#39;ll watch it again if I see it on TV.”
