• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Bob's Take on Cinema: Few Gambling Films Are Sure Bets

Posted on: Thursday, 20 March 2008, 06:00 CDT

Here comes another gambling movie.

Are you ready to ante up $8.50 plus the necessary bite for popcorn to see "21," in which Kevin Spacey exploits Jim Sturgess ("Across the Universe") and some other MIT whizzes who count cards while playing blackjack?

I haven't seen the movie as I write this, but I will have in time to review it for the March 28 paper, the day the film opens.

It's supposed to be inspired by a true story. College kids take their card-counting skill to Vegas for a big-time fleecing of the casinos. Laurence Fishburne plays the casino security guy who must catch them.

On the IMDb.com Web site, someone from Britain who caught a preview screening gushes in a user comment that "21" is the best of the genre, comparing it to "Ocean's 11."

This is what drives me crazy about anonymous Internet reviews.

You don't know how much to trust such reviewers because you have no idea of their qualifications or tastes in movies. For all we know, the writers could be studio shills pumping up the anticipation the way the shills once did with fake quotes in movie ads.

What I do know is that "Ocean's 11" isn't in the gambling-movie genre at all. Sure, it's set in a Las Vegas casino, but it's a heist movie. The closest it gets to betting is the character who poses as a poker dealer (Bernie Mac).

Maybe "21" is more about the ripoff than card skills, too. But if it turns out to be the best of the genre, no one will be more surprised than me. It would have to knock off some pretty good predecessors to lay claim to that title.

The trouble with movies about gambling is that, unless you understand the game, it's tedious to watch people play it, as the camera skips from hand to hand with each new card tossed out there.

True, poker on TV has taught more people about gambling. Even so, a movie angling for a broad audience has to be about the gambler's love life. Or family relationships. Or addiction. Or the need to learn an important life lesson. It needs strong writing and characters with depth.

Recent attempts have scored mixed results.

Last spring, Eric Bana was the selfish bad boy who hated his pro-gambler father, Robert Duvall, in "Lucky You." Eric needed Drew Barrymore, a naive girl he intends to use, but can't quite shed, to wise him up. The Curtis Hanson movie, with lots of hand-by-hand gambling scenes, got mostly sour reviews and tanked at the box office.

Last summer, "Casino Royale" nearly lost some loyal 007 followers with its lengthy high-stakes card game. Not me. I loved those scenes. But the rest of the movie and its usual gimmicks sold it well to non-poker fans.

One of my contemporary favorites is "The Cooler," a 2003 movie in which William C. Macy turns in a smashing performance as a sad-sack poker Jonah. He works for casino owner Alec Baldwin, taking his jinx to tables where somebody is winning big. But he falls in love with the wrong girl (Maria Bello is terrific), turning the stakes into a life-and-death yarn full of twists.

"Rounders" stars Matt Damon as a gambling addict who returns to the game to pay off a friend's debts, then proceeds to lose his college tuition, his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) and just about anything else that matters to him as his compulsion takes over. It got mixed reviews in 1998. Not Damon's fault. Not Edward Norton's, either. I'll watch those two in just about anything, and they didn't disappoint me, even if the script and the direction did from time to time.

Better is 1974's "The Gambler," starring -- no, not Kenny Rogers -- James Caan as a literature professor who takes addiction to tragic extremes. This is a movie that knows how to build tension about the sickening consequences.

Older still, and a favorite when it comes around on TMC, is "The Cincinnati Kid," a 1965 movie in which young turk Steve McQueen takes on legend Edward G. Robinson, but it's a dirty game. Ann-Margret seduces Steve to get his mind off the cards and ruin things with his true love, Tuesday Weld. Meanwhile, Karl Malden and Joan Blondell deal the cards -- one of them from the bottom of the deck -- as this thing ratchets up to one long, climactic night at the table.

If you like a lighter take on poker, check out "A Big Hand for the Little Lady," made the same year as "The Cincinnati Kid." It's strictly second-tier comedy but mildly amusing with its plot twists and all-star cast: Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Paul Ford, Burgess Meredith, Kevin McCarthy and Charles Bickford.

Source: Omaha World-Herald

More News in this Category