Rounders (1998)

Whenever I watch poker flicks I always like to think that I’d do well against them. Hey I gotta good poker face. You thought I was bluffin huh? Well eat this straight flush! Gimme your money. Regardless, Matt Damon and Edward Norton sure can talk the talk. Both are quite convincing as who they come across to be. Damon as a conservative but very good tell reader, and Norton, freshly out of prison, is quite the opposite. He’s an aggressive risk taker, who isn’t afraid to use an ace up his sleeve from time to time. It’s kinda cheesy portraying Damon as a ‘moral’ gambler, but he’s believable enough in the role. John Malkovich steals the show as KGB, an expert card player. I’d be very surprised if anyone from Russia would buy his accent, but he knows how to create a character. All in all, the card sequences work well, and the film as a whole pretty much accomplishes what it sets out to be: a mildly suspenseful film about poker playing.

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