Monday 26 September 2011

Aces full, Mike

Rounders (1998)

John Dahl directs Matt Damon, Ed Norton and John Malkovich in this cult classic poker film. A young law student loses all his cash at cards and has to run up $15,000 in a few days to clear the debt of a friend recently released from prison.

This film may stick fairly closely to a common format used on sports films but it has more than enough texture and style to cover the slightly derivative basic plot. As the bad guy Malkovich nearly steals the film with his crazy Russian and there is a great supporting cast with John Turturro, Famke Janssen and Martin Landau. What makes this film a cult classic is that it really nails the sport it is covering and just oozes character even if Matt Damon's performance is a little understated.

4/5

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