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8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Powerful and drama filled coming-of-age., 16 December 2010
9/10
Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Actress Lori Petty turns director for this harsh and gritty drama of a young 14-year-old girl named Agnes(Jennifer Lawrence)growing up in less desirable conditions in the mid 1970s. Agnes has two younger sisters and her mother Sarah(Selma Blair) is strung out on drugs. Everyday is a struggle for survival; Agnes looking after her sisters and trying to protect them from what goes on in their home. The house is host to degenerates playing cards, drugging, drinking and whoring. Sarah allows all the activity going on in the "poker house", because she herself is a major part of it. Agnes seems to be bright in spite of battling conditions to study in and is a talented local basketball hero. Life seems so dark and miserable, but Agnes has the resilience to make it to tomorrow. After seeing Lawrence in WINTER'S BONE, I am just that more assured she is one strong actress with unlimited abilities. Blair in this role is just as sensational. Playing the little sisters Sophie Bairley and Chloe Grace Moretz prove to have exciting and worth watching futures ahead. POKER HOUSE has a strong supporting cast featuring: Bokeem Woodbine, David Alan Grier, Andrew Rothenberg and Natalie West.

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29 out of 53 people found the following review useful:
A Near Perfect Movie, 21 October 2009
10/10
Author: yossarian100 from usa

A person's life is made up of many stories, and this is just one story from Lori Petty's life, but it's told with all the style of John Steinbeck. Speaking of style, something which is lacking in so many films today, even great ones, THE POKER HOUSE is done with an amazing amount of it, and the only thing you get more of than style in this movie is the incredible performances and characterizations of Jennifer Lawrence, Sophia Bairley, Chloe Moretz, and Selma Blair, an excellent supporting cast, and a to-die-for script. The final scene of this movie is not an ending, it's a beginning, and it's so powerful I jumped to my feet while watching it. Lori Petty has an incredible grasp of the art of visual storytelling. I can't wait to see what she does next.

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12 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
A bad HS play, 9 November 2009
3/10
Author: John Holden from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This runs out much like a play: characters speak their lines and act individually rather than interact; folks jump in and out of scenes with dialog that has no relation to a narrative that might have been developed; quirkiness abounds.

The film opens with "based on a true story" and closes with a note that we've just seen the director's real life. OK, but realism and verisimilitude by themselves don't make for good art.

Oh, and it's narrated throughout so there's no possibility that you'll miss something. Narration is great for folks who don't want to take the time to film a story.

It's a shame because there's a good story here - kids growing up around - and being lead into - gambling, drugs, prostitution, theft, etc. We just don't see any of it. We see a superhero girl sententiously pushed down our throats by the writer-director.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
An intimate reminder of my childhood, 27 February 2012
10/10
Author: momofmelbaandcasey from United States

I enjoyed this movie from beginning until the end. Perhaps due to the evocative nature of the film and my own very early childhood. Like Adele, the lead character and narrator of the film, it fell upon me at way too young an age, after a parental separation, to pick up the pieces, both figuratively and literally. This film is so surprisingly different than anything else that Lori Petty has done in film that I was startled to find out that it was indeed the Lori Petty from Tank Girl who penned and directed this film. A tale of religion gone wrong and a mother who couldn't deal with the consequential aftermath, a tale of a girl old beyond her years, searching for a tender love that couldn't be bargained; I wish that you see this film and take from it the hope that it inspires, the longing that children have for a pure love and the understanding that you can't always get what you want or even what you need.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Bravo to the actors and the characters they play!, 31 January 2012
8/10
Author: liajane19 from United States

Selma Blair is amazing in The Poker House as a drug-addicted prostitute who has her three daughters living with her. Jennifer Lawrence also gives a wonderful performance as the eldest daughter, Agnes who takes care of her two younger siblings. The Poker House is narrated by Agnes as she tries to deal with being 14 and living in a house where there is gambling, drugs, alcohol, and pimps. The story definitely pulls on the heart strings at times, but it does not overwhelm with sadness that it makes it hard to enjoy. It adds just the right amount of humor that three young girls can produce while being silly together. I honestly was shocked by how well the movie was produced and the character portrayal. The Poker House is definitely something I would recommend to my friends, as well as watch again.

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5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Felt a bit all over the place at times, not a terrible movie though, 8 February 2011
6/10
Author: KineticSeoul from United States

This is one of the story in the life of Lori Petty, and I never knew how much of a difficult childhood she had. It's basically a depressing and yet well acted and well made movie to some degree about girls struggles. Mainly because of a bad mother and not a very good environment to be growing up in. Now the negative aspect of this movie is that, it seemed to drag in a lot of scenes. In fact some of the scenes actually seemed quite pointless. Basically the plot is about a tough girl who is also smart, but don't always make the right decision having to take care of her sisters as well as overcome her struggles with the environment. The plot seemed all over the place at times and got boring during sometimes as well. This is not a near perfect movie but it isn't as terrible as some people claim it to be. The ending was okay though.

6/10

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A Powerhouse of Excellent Performances, 16 April 2012
9/10
Author: jerrybrsc2 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

OK, so I just saw The Poker House yesterday and I had to wait almost a full day before I could successfully review it just to let it all sink in. I'm gonna go ahead and let you know how I feel right up front (if on the off chance you can't read the title of this review or see the stars); I loved this movie! Where to begin? OK, let's talk about what I liked. First of all, the performances were all just entrancing, most specifically Jennifer Lawrence. She plays a very vulnerable, yet rugged and emotionally confused 14 year old girl, named Agnes. Her delivery of each line of dialogue is just masterful in every sense of the word, and she infuses each sentence and every nuance of her character with such realistic flare that it's almost to the point of method. Also, Selma Blair who plays the character of Sarah, Agnes' mother, does an excellent job of playing the coked-up prostitute who is so out of touch with reality that it's almost unbelievable. For those of you who don't know, this film is based on the real life experiences of it's director, Lori Petty, thus ensuring some very powerfully and well written material as well as some top shelf direction, which it absolutely delivers in every aspect. The only real problem that I can think this film had was some of the characters are a little over-the-top, but honestly, I accredit this to Petty's writing and direction, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This is her life story and I'm sure that those characters were really as insane and over-the-top as they are portrayed in this movie. Really the biggest problem for me personally was that, at times, the pacing was a little off. It would slow down and speed back up again without much reasoning as to why it was doing it. This is just a minor point because at no point do you find yourself scratching your head and saying, "What?" or "How?". Overall guys, The Poker House is a very very well acted movie, a pretty well executed movie, and a very underrated movie. I really don't know why this film has only 6.1 Stars. But anyway, I hope you liked this review and take it into consideration if you consider seeing this film. Thanks.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Very under-rated, 12 May 2012
10/10
Author: agnesbprice from United Kingdom

This film is honestly one of my favourite movies I've ever seen. This will sound cheesy and a massive cliché but "The Poker House" was incredibly moving and well directed. It is the only film that has ever made me cry while watching it. Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely sensational in portraying Agnes as an independent and slightly vulnerable teenager. Although Agnes' situation is hopefully not too relatable, Lawrence makes the most distant situations close to home. This film is ridiculously under-rated and everyone over 15 should watch it. As a brief summary, Agnes lives with her mother and two sisters who never communicate with each other. They live in a very poor small town and Agnes is forced to live in almost complete poverty and lives her life very independently. She has a passion for writing poetry and basketball. Agnes starts to think she and her mother's pimp boyfriend are in love but is forever trying to look after her younger sisters and herself. Watch it. Tell people about it. Watch it again.

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Early Jennifer Lawrence role, she is superb in this gritty and mostly ugly film., 23 February 2013
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There is a place in the small Iowa community called the "poker house." People of all kinds, but mostly black, congregate in this smoky place for poker, alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. Not a very pretty place, visually or morally.

Jennifer Lawrence was about 16 or 17 during filming, all in the Chicago areas, and she is the main character Agnes who is 14. She and her two younger sisters mostly have to fend for themselves, their mother (Selma Blair, almost unrecognizable) is never fully sober and even if she were does not seem to have any "mothering" skills. Agnes is actually the surrogate mother for the two younger ones. Agnes is also bright, makes straight A's, writes poetry about her gritty life, and is the star basketball player for the school team.

So this is her story, about how she manages to stay above the grime and eventually carve out a better life. Jennifer Lawrence even at her young age is simply superb in her role as Agnes. It was also nice to see Chloë Grace Moretz in an early role as Agnes's little sister Cammie.

SPOILERS: In a good role for him, Bokeem Woodbine is Duval , basically Agnes's mom's pimp. But he also takes a liking to Agnes, they spend long scenes kissing, and her voice-over tells how much she likes his lips. Agnes is young and not wise to the real world, and she thinks he loves her. Then one day of kissing leads to rape. She is shocked, she gets in the tub and washes herself frantically. All trust has been betrayed, but she pulls herself together to go late to the game but plays and scores to erase a large deficit and win the game. The rape was her wake-up call, it influenced her to care for herself and make a career for herself.

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5 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
A First Draft, 6 February 2011
2/10
Author: ktw122 from Pennsylvania

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Not to long ago I took a class in literary nonfiction. For that class, I wrote an essay about my relationship with my father. My professor made a very useful comment that anyone who attempts to write about their life should heed: "Maybe you're too close to the material. You should give it some time." I wish Lori Petty had taken that class and heard that advice.

Petty obviously had some trouble separating herself from this story, but that is what a film is supposed to be, a story. If Petty had just wanted to recount a tragic day in her childhood, then she should have made a documentary. Since this is supposed to be a film every scene should advance the story in someway. That was one of the things that irritated me about this movie. It dragged on with all these unnecessary scenes that did nothing to advance the plot. Why did we need to see Agnes playing a pick up game of basketball? Why did we need to see Agnes at the Burger joint? Why are there so many scenes of Cammie at the bar? My other problem with this film is its protagonist. Agnes is clearly smart and savvy. Savvy enough to make sure that her little sisters don't see her mother's john, but not smart enough to know better than to make out with her mother's pimp/lover. Trailers for this film described the pimp as a father figure, but who makes out with their father? I also didn't understand why Agnes had Bee leave the poker house when she saw that the degenerates had shown up, but didn't leave herself. She had a basketball to go to why was she hanging around? These decisions and Agnes' obnoxious, chatty, and attention seeking personality make it hard to like her as a character. Also, I would have been more interested in what happened to Agnes and the girls immediately after the ending instead of some vague reference to her leaving for New York years later.

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