Rounders (2004, DVD)

I really don t care what anyone says, poker is a game of skill. I ve spent countless hours in front of five cent keno machines waiting to hit 9 out of 10 or even 7 out of 7. It may happen once in a very great while, but not very often. It requires absolutely no skill whatsoever, and it just requires that luck may hit your numbers. However, poker is a different story. Even if you play video poker, you have to have a certain skill set or know what you re doing, because you have to know when to hold em and know when to fold em. Tres cliche I know, and there are parts of Rounders that are fairly clich as well. However, I will admit that Rounders, which is a back when Matt wasn t that big film, is one of my all time faves. Ed Norton and Matt Damon make it work, and their on-camera charisma and the script of this movie makes it one that you can t stop watching, even for a minute.

Lester Worm Murphy Ed Norton is due to get out of prison. While in the joint he had a card game going with every part of the population. He even has a brand new tattoo of an ace, up his sleeve of course. Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) is Worm s old pal, as they used to play a lot of cards together. Mike is one of the only real friends Worm has, so he picks him up from jail. Immediately Worm wants to go get into every underground poker game in the New York area, but Mike has made a promise to his girlfriend because, we find out, that Mike lost a lot of money on one big bet. He told her that he would no longer play poker, and we aren t really sure if Mike ever had a gambling addiction or if he was just meant to play. The thin line of it all is that while poker is gambling, it s also a game of skill. Mike argues that every year the same people are in the World Series of Poker, and it isn t by luck.

Needless to say, Mike ends up breaking his promise, and his girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol) finds out and leaves him. This of course gives him more time to drop out of law school and get back to his favourite past time, playing poker with or without his buddy Worm. The poker playing becomes more of a necessity and a job when Mike finds out that Worm owes a lot of money to a local thug called Grama (Michael Rispoli), and that the juice is running on the money. Mike vouches for Worm and they have three days to get a ludicrous amount of money. They go on a run and hit every game they know of.

The excitement builds and we really want to see Worm and Mike work their magic and make all of the money that Worm owes. Unfortunately Mike has much more control than Worm does when it comes to cheating and being obvious, and our boys get into some deep trouble. When Worm runs off and leaves Mike, he has to decide what to do. He has to make the very difficult choice. He can not play cards, or he can. But, it s not so simple.

Rounders is graced with an all star cast. Ed Norton becomes the slime bucket Worm and even though he s irritating and a complete loser, we like him, just like Mike does. We want Mike to be the professional card player, we want him to win and even though it might be morally wrong, when watching Rounders we believe it must be okay. John Turturro is a supporting actor in this film, and he plays a man who makes a life out of playing poker. He plays safe, he doesn t bet it all and he affords a comfortable life without being greedy. We see that it is possible for a talented player to survive this way, but like Mike, we want to see the whole pot won with a killer hand or a great bluff.

Damon plays the perfect part of a very good person with a deep conflict. He doesn t want to play cards because he thinks it s wrong, but he really isn t convinced of the evils of poker. Both he and Norton make a great pair and this film is entertaining and suspenseful until the end. I never tire of watching it over and over. There is constant excitement and the poker games are fun to watch. The 'background' commentary by Damon as he narrates what the couple are actually doing is fascinating, and the film itself is very well made and extremely likable.

I have to give Rounders an enthusiastic 5 stars.