Rating of
4/4
Great Poker Flick!!!
mdtinney - wrote on 08/12/09
John Dahl (of The Last Seduction and Red Rock West fame) delivers another flick about the seedier side of life in the new character study card-shark movie Rounders. Starring Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting and SPR) and Edward Norton (chilling supporting actor nominee for Primal Fear) with a superb supporting cast including John Turturro as Kinish, John Malkovich as KBG and Martin Landau as Professor Petrovsky, Rounders follows a card shark on the "rounds" from one poker game to the next in New York's underbelly back halls and clubs. Known as a great "reader" of people, Damon (Mike McDermott) has made his money for his law school education by using his skills at the poker table. His patient girlfriend (played convincingly by Gretchen Mol) has had enough of his late night/all night rounds, so, to keep her, he hangs up his deck, gets a regular job and becomes a full time student. That is, until Worm (Norton) is released from prison and must pay back a loan made prior to his incarceration. He enlisted Mike's help and out of gratitude for Worm's keeping him out of jail, Mike helps his old friend and in the process estranges his girlfriend and his poker friends as well as Worm builds up more debts under Mike's good name while trying to score big to pay off the loan. At times chilling and always entertaining, Rounders delivers a full house of good acting and great story. Norton and Damon make a good team and Malkovich (always superb) outdoes himself here. Rounders will make you think twice about ever sitting down at a poker table again. And with good reason. Catch this one now and see it again soon. There's a lot more here than meets the eye and it will be just as enjoyable, if not more, on the second go round as the first.
