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, Gretchen Mol

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Damon	...	Mike McDermott
Gretchen Mol	...	Jo
John Malkovich	...	Teddy KGB
Paul Cicero	...	Russian Thug
Ray Iannicelli	...	Kenny
John Turturro	...	Joey Knish
Merwin Goldsmith	...	Sy
Sonny Zito	...	Tony
Josh Mostel	...	Zagosh
Mal Z. Lawrence	...	Irving
Lenny Clarke	...	Savino
Peter Yoshida	...	Henry Lin
Jay Boryea	...	Russian Thug #2
Lenny Venito	...	Moogie
Martin Landau	...	Abe Petrovsky

Storyline

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

---

Plot Keywords:

poker | loan shark | cult film | breasts | reference to christy turlington | 

---

Taglines:

Trust everyone... but always cut the cards

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama

---

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:

Les joueurs

Filming Locations:

25 Henry Street, NY, NY

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,459,126 (USA) (11 September 1998)

Gross:

$22,905,674 (USA) (6 November 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Spanky Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The chips used in both KGB's place and the Chesterfield Club were made by Atlantic Standard Molding (ASM) which makes custom chips for casinos and home games.

---

Goofs

The 6,7 and 10 cards in the last hand, change position between nearly every shot.

---

Quotes

Mike McDermott: You comin' up?
Lester 'Worm' Murphy: [sarcastically] No, I've been standin' out here all this time just to say hi.
Mike McDermott: All right, listen, things haven't been that smooth on the homefront so, you know, tone it down a little, all right?
Lester 'Worm' Murphy: [jokingly, intentionally, ignoring Mike's request] Tone done what, motherfucker?

---

Connections

Referenced in Scream 3 (2000)

---

Soundtracks

That's The Kind Of Girl I Dream Of
Written by Marvin Fisher & Joel Segal
Performed by Nat 'King' Cole
Courtesy of Capitol Reocords

User Reviews

One of the most widely underrated movies of our time

Rounders is I believe, one of the most widely underrated movies of our time.

I first saw this movie as it was a 'bonus DVD' thrown in for free with my DVD player back in 2000, so naturally I didn't expect much (as the other bonus DVD's were very mediocre), but what I found was a very enjoyable movie.

At that stage in my life, I had only played a little poker as a child growing up, and never 'Texas Hold'em' so to be honest, a lot of the terminology went 'over my head', but even so, the film became an instant favorite of mine purely because of the performances.

The film has so much star power, and yet none of the fine actors try to 'steal' scenes. Damon, Norton, Malkovich, Landau ... and then the fine supporting cast of Turturro, Jansen, and Mol.

In fact, there is a scene with Martin Landau and Matt Damon that is perhaps one of the most beautiful performances I have seen in a long time between two very fine actors.

So even if you're not a poker player, the story is tighter than a lot of Hollywood 'pop fluff' and the performances alone can sell the film as an enjoyable movie capable of multiple viewings.

But ... if you start playing poker and get really into what they are talking about, and reading about poker theory (like Doyle Brunson's book Super System) then the movie moves up to a whole different level.

A lot of the time, Hollywood will attempt to cover a specialized error, and usually fail, or at best only partially succeed, whereas Rounders managed to get everything 'spot on', just look at the US DVD, it has a commentary track from 4 World Champion Poker players, if that's not a stamp of approval then I don't know what is.

When you factor in how the film can be enjoyed by someone who has little to no idea about Poker (as I did when I first saw the film) just because of the tight story and stellar performances and also be 'immortalized' by poker enthusiasts as the best movie ever made on the subject (and truth be told, a big reason why the World Series of Poker has been doubling it's entries year after year) ... what you have here is a true gem that works on so many levels and what I believe is, as I said initially, one of the most widely underrated movies of our time.