This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 8:28 am and is filed under Drama, Mob, Crime and Scam Movies, Movie Reviews, R. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: John Dahl
Starring: Matt Damon, Ed Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Gretchen Mol, Martin Landau, Michael Rispoli
This is the standard by which all other poker movies must be judged. The story is simple, but the characters are great. The snappy dialogue is well-written and the delivery is first-class by all three principals, aided by solid efforts by the supporting cast. This is practically required viewing by all hold’em players and is packed full of solid poker advice and is a very good movie besides.
Matt Damon is Mike McDermott, a promising law student, and an outstanding poker player who retires himself from gambling after a rough loss handed to him by a poker-playing gangster, Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). This lasts until Mike’s shady, lifelong friend, Worm, played by the always talented, Ed Norton, is released from prison. Soon, Mike finds himself back in the game he left behind, while trying to help Worm slither out of a hole he is stuck in. Mike is back in the life, but what else has he gotten himself into? There are rough decisions for him to make about who, and what, is important to him.
I enjoy most projects that Matt Damon chooses, and everything that Ed Norton does. Add their combined talent to a magnificent script about my favorite game and a great review from me is virtually assured. This is one of the movies that occupies a prominent spot on my shelf and never collects dust. It is a good, edgy drama and, though it is the best poker movie ever made, it also stands on its own as a fine movie that non-poker players enjoy, as well.
