Movie Review: Rounders (1998)
Rounders (1998)
Starring: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Turturro, Gretchen Mol, Famke Janssen, John Malkovich, Martin Landau
Directed By: John Dahl
Since I'm going to Edmonton tomorrow to draft my fantasy football team and play some poker, I figured I should brush up. I've never really played a lot of poker, so the best I could do is watch one of my favourite movies. Maybe that'll be enough?
Rounders is a movie about the underground poker scene in New York City, the title referring to those who play poker as a way of making a living. The story follows Mike McDermitt (Matt Damon), a reformed player who gave up the lifestyle after losing everything he had in one game. To make things up to his long-suffering girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), the law student Mike works graveyard shifts driving a truck and never plays poker. When his old running buddy Worm (Edward Norton) gets out jail, things change for Mike.
Ugh. Did I just start a review with a summary? I need to get my head in the game here. I think I had a hard time starting this review because Rounders is one of my favourite movies, one I've seen dozens of times, so it's hard to write critically about a flick that you've enjoyed that much. But a summary? Ugh.
Anyway, along with ESPN's pocket cam, this flick can take a lot of the credit for the explosion of popularity that the game of poker has experienced in recent years. Which, I guess means it should also take some of the blame for all the celebrity poker shows that litter the television landscape. Don't let the fact that Ben Affleck is constantly playing poker on TV ruin what is an incredibly enjoyable movie, one that makes the world of poker both seductive and frightening.
But mostly seductive, since the only time I ever want to play poker is after I watch this movie. But that's just because the movie is cool, and Matt Damon comes off like the Will Hunting of the poker world by the end of it. Otherwise, the movie is quite careful about showing the dangers of the rounder scene, the highs and the lows, presenting a gritty take on the game and those who play it. The mood is a dark one, setting the protagonist up with obstacles and dangers to overcome in the end.
The movie is able to create some genuine suspense out of the well-worn clichés that fill the plot, making a first-time viewer unsure which way the movie will turn out. Will it be a movie about overcoming obstacles, or a cautionary tale about the ills of gambling? Since the world presented is fully actualised, the characters interesting, and the dialogue snappy, the audience is emotionally involved by the climax, making the payoff satisfying and earned.
Not everything in the movie works though. Gretchen Mol is a complete waste in the movie, a dead fish of a performance that adds nothing interesting or useful to the movie or her character, unless you're prone to enjoying WASPy attractiveness. John Malkovich's turn as Teddy KGB walks a fine line between unique and absurd caricature, your opinion of it will largely depend on your opinion of the movie as a whole. Also, like I said, it follows a fairly clichéd structure, depending more on style than substance. But it does more things right than it does wrong, and holds up very well under subsequent viewings. It's one of my favourite movies and I highly recommend it.
3.5/5