Rounders (1998)

A young man is a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks.

Director:

John Dahl

Writers:

David Levien, Brian Koppelman

Stars:

Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Paul Cicero

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Damon	...	Mike McDermott
Edward Norton	...	Lester 'Worm' Murphy
Paul Cicero	...	Russian Thug
John Turturro	...	Joey Knish
Ray Iannicelli	...	Kenny
Gretchen Mol	...	Jo
Famke Janssen	...	Petra
Merwin Goldsmith	...	Sy
John Malkovich	...	Teddy KGB
Martin Landau	...	Abe Petrovsky
Sonny Zito	...	Tony
Michael Rispoli	...	Grama
Melina Kanakaredes	...	Barbara
Mal Z. Lawrence	...	Irving
Josh Mostel	...	Zagosh

Storyline

A young man is a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks.

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Plot Keywords:

loan shark | poker | card playing | gambling | call girl | 

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Taglines:

Pick a card, any card

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong language, some sexuality and brief drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew Russian

Release Date:

11 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Vida É Um Jogo

Filming Locations:

Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£188,946 (UK) (20 November 1998)

Gross:

£188,946 (UK) (20 November 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, Spanky Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The playing card brands used throughout the film, in order are: - Teddy KGB's place: Kem cards - Professor's game: Bicycle cards - Frat house game: Bicycle cards - Chesterfield's: Kem cards - Taj Mahal casino: casino branded cards - Union game: not identifiable - Cigar shop game: Bicycle cards - Coffee shop: not identifiable but "made in USA" (possibly Aviator cards, which has an Ace of Spades that resembles the one partially seen) - Golf club game: Bicycle cards - Cop game: Bicycle cards - Matt Damon vs Jon C. Chan: casino branded cards - Final game at Teddy KGB's: KEM cards.

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Goofs

Mike enters the Troopers card game wearing a jacket, is thrown out of the game without it, and is shown later wearing the jacket again. But you can (barely) hear the jacket get thrown onto the ground after him.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mike McDermott: Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.

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Connections

References The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

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Soundtracks

"Chitlins Con Carne"
Written by Kenny Burrell
Performed by The Johnny Lewis Quartet
Courtesy of Ubiquity Recordings, Inc./Luv N'Haight Records

User Reviews

excellent movie

I have no idea if this movie is at all realistic (certainly so many people inhabiting this strata of the poker world can be so good looking), but at least it has the ring of verisimilitude. Not only does it show us the workings of a somewhat exotic (to me, anyway) part of the world, but it manages to do this stylishly while treating us to an interesting character study and a clever plot.

The story is about a young "rounder" who is trying to go straight by going to law school (although our first glimpse of him shows him losing all his money in a high-stakes poker game with a Russian gangster). He quits gambling for a while until a old friend (played by Norton) returns to his life and lands him in deep trouble. What I especially like about the movie is that is starts off as if this plot line is the main subject, when in fact the movie is about this person learning important things about himself. And there is a lot of information about poker...

Damon is especially impressive among a uniformly good cast.