Critical Film Condition

Understand when I say this: I seriously don’t know if Matt Damon is a good actor or not… I can’t make up my mind.

Anyhoo. “Rounders” is a fun little movie that has the problem of being a little too much in love with it’s own premise. Fear not, though: I liked this one, regardless of all that.

You see: this is the kind of movie where the screenwriter either A) did a shitload of research and didn’t want to let it all go to waste (thus the thousands of poker quotes and references) or B) is a poker fanatic and lifelong gambler who didn’t want to let his experience go to waste (there are really a lot of poker quotes). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing… If the movie manages to give you that feeling of wanting to pick up a card deck and get some friends together for a poker night (or strip-poker night… Whatever makes you happy). And THAT it achieves beautifully.

The story goes that Mike (Damon) is a talented Rounder (poker as a lifestyle) who decides to go all in and make big dough one night playing against Teddy KGB (John Malkovic, having LOADS of fun and stealing the movie in the process). Naturally, Mike loses all his cash and quits the poker world to go to law school. After living like a respectable human being (and not following his dream of becoming champion in the World Series), Mike’s live turns upside down when his childhood friend Worm (Edward Norton, good as always) gets out of jail. Dragged back into his former world, Mike has a hard time living up to the expectations of his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol, still looking like she’s 16) and his teacher (Martin Landau, the nicest guy on the PLANET), while Worm keeps pushing him deeper and deeper into the troubles of his past life.

The movie succeeds in displaying how the underground poker world works (or at least I THINK that’s how it works) and gives some new ideas to the whole “fight the system” thing that’s always present in these movies. Does Mike keep fooling himself that he can become a respectable lawyer or does he follow his dream and God-given-gift to become a professional poker player? The problem is that the movie gets a little stuck in that, since, I repeat, it falls in love too much with the depiction of the subculture of the card gambling world. The story gets stuck some times and if you’re not a card player (I know I’m not, but I know a little) you don’t get emotionally involved when they’re playing. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to get excited when you see Mike holding a Straight Flush when you have no idea how that compares to the Full House his opponent has. Get my point?

That is, thankfully, a minor problem, since the movie tries, in mundane ways, to explain things (And yes, there’s a lot of exciting card playing in the movie). But where, unfortunately, I can say the movie failed, MISERABLY, is in displaying Mike’s and Worm’s relationship. Worm is such an asshole through the whole movie that you really can’t believe that he and Mike were ever friends… Don’t get me wrong, though. I love the Worm character. He’s funny, charming and Edward Norton does a brilliant job to display that… But he just keeps backstabbing Mike so much in the story that the fact that they were inseparable childhood friends is just a little hard to believe.

All in all, this is a very satisfying movie that deserves its points due to the acting and passion (though a little over the top) for its subject. I still don’t know if I like Matt Damon’s acting style, but everybody else seems to be enjoying themselves in the experience of making this movie and the acting talent present (specially Malkovic and Norton, who unfortunately don’t share a scene) make for a very dynamic display of dialogue and card playing.

This movie, naturally, served as an inspiration for another fun little flick, though not as rich in context, called “Pool Hall Junkies”, which I will review soon, since now I have to see it again after this viewing of “Rounders”.

[starreviewmulti id=1]

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