(out of 5)(out of 5)
Rounders is one of those few formula movies that works on a level above formula, thus holding one's interest for more than ten minutes. Matt Damon plays Mike McDermott, a world class poker player (even if he's never played in the World Series of Poker) who knows every last inch of the game and who happens to be a law student. For him, the game has almost nothing to do with what he's holding in his hand, and everything to do with the eyes of his opponents.
In the opening scene, we see Mike picking up hidden stacks of cash from around his apartment (one inside the frame of a picture, in a book, etc.) and takes his load to an underground poker club run by a Russian called Teddy KGB (John Malkovich), who is a member of the Russian mob. He cashes in his $30,000, or "three stacks of high society" as he calls it, and tries a hand against Teddy himself. Thinking he has this master whiz of a poker player beaten, Mike bets his whole pot, and loses it. The look on Mike's face, even without the voice over narration telling us that that was his tuition money, suggests he's just lost everything. He then vows never to touch the cards again.
Nearly everything about the plot is what one should expect from a movie of this sort. What's so good about it though, is that this movie doesn't try to preach any morals. No one says that gambling is bad, in fact everything in this movie points to the positive aspect of being a great poker player: you make loads of money.
Some time passes after Mike's great loss and it's time for his childhood best friend Worm (the wonderfully talented Edward Norton) to be released from prison. Within five minutes of meeting this shady character, we learn that he too is an expert poker player. Although he cheats his way through games. Back in the day, Mike and Worm were the best at what they did together. Can you tell where this is heading? That's right, Mike goes back to the life.
In so doing, he begins to lose everything including his girlfriend. Worm rides his debt up a few thousand around town. Seeking advice from his mentor, a judge played by Martin Landau, he learns that his destiny is card playing, not the law.
The beauty of this film is in its atmosphere, mood and surroundings. The plot seems like a tool for taking the audience from one seedy card club to the next. New York City is portrayed with a darkness that makes you feel like you want to be someplace else. As Mike and Worm play the tables all over Manhattan, Long Island, upstate New York and Atlantic City, we are treated to tense moments, easy poker games, dangerous games and a very comical scene in which Mike and some other professional players at a table in Atlantic City feed on the tourists. Mike points out in the voice over that "we weren't working with each other, but we weren't working against each other either. It's like the Nature Channel: you don't see piranhas eating each other."
The film entertains and holds your interest. The voice over provides the background in poker that the average viewer of this film does not have. One dimensional characters and a formula plot don't hold this movie back to any great length.
Copyright © 1999 Jason Ihle. All rights reserved.