John Dahl creates an intelligent and character-driven crime-drama built around solid performances by Damon and Norton.
Comment
03/25/08
Rounders (1998)
64 %
Reviews Counted: 74 Fresh: 47 Rotten:27 Average Rating: 6.1/10
Consensus:
Richly atmospheric and colorful performances contributed to the movie's entertainment value.
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of New York's high-stakes underground poker world, Roundersis the tale of Mike McDermott, a master card player who trades the poker-playing rounds for law school and a shot at a new life with his girlfriend Jo. For Mike, the new life he's staking out seems like a... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Turturro, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol
Director: John Dahl
Screenwriter: David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Producer: Ted Demme, Joel Stillerman
Composer: Christopher Young
Screenwriter: David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Producer: Ted Demme, Joel Stillerman
Composer: Christopher Young
Reviews
Top Critic
The end result is still short of a winning hand, since the screenplay is so utterly predictable.
06/24/06
Top Critic Top Critic
The wholesome pup's poker face alone, however, hardly accounts for the film's failure to thrill. Damon's character doesn't really have that much stake in the story's outcome.
03/25/08
Top Critic
This ode to the allure of clipping suckers and psyching out the competition is richly atmospheric but thin in the character department.
03/25/08
Gretchen Mol, Edward Norton, John Turturro, Martin Landau, and Famke Janssen costar; they're all pretty good, but not good enough to make this 1998 feature worth seeing.
03/25/08
In his first non-noir film, John Dahl, assisted by the great French lenser Jean-Yves Escoffier, gives New York's underground gambling scene a vivid atmopshere, with special attention to its particular rituals and fast macho talk.
01/14/07
"Rounders" makes you feel the suspense and thrive in the thrill of the moment, always coming up aces.
12/17/06
Other directors simply pay homage to film noir and their movies come across as copies or throwbacks, but Dahl's movies work because he seems to understand the inner workings of film noir, and the absurd situations that people can get into.
05/26/06
It's too bad with all of the poker action there wasn't enough time to establish the relationships between characters.
12/06/05
The fact that I was so motivated by the movie to put all that money on the table speaks positively of the picture.
10/31/04
The "good buddy, bad buddy" symmetry harkens back to the days of James Cagney-Pat O'Brien pictures, but this is stylish enough to make us forgive the narrative conventions.
09/15/04
Takes you into a grungy underworld of high-stakes poker in New York City.
07/01/04
Damon proves once again that he's not just a face, and he does wonders with his inner and outer conflicts. Norton is wickedly sleazy as a barely-in-control low life who will undoubtedly end up back in the slammer.
05/14/03
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