Rounders (1998)

A young, reformed gambler must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks, while balancing his relationship with his girlfriend and his commitments to law school.

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

John Dahl directed this exploration of New York private clubs devoted to high-stakes poker, with first-person narration from the film's central figure, law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who loses his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). Mike then turns away from cards, devoting his attentions to his law studies and his live-in girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), who's concerned when Mike's former gambling buddy Worm (Edward Norton) is released from prison. She has good reason to worry, since it takes Worm only a matter of minutes to draw Mike back into poker action. When she learns Mike has returned to the poker clubs, she moves out, and Mike begins to lose interest in his studies. Worm has a prison debt, and the threatening Grama (Michael Rispoli) wants the money. Mike not only indulges the irresponsible Worm, he gets involved in Worm's debts. When Grama demands $15,000 on a five-day deadline, the two buddies go into high gear with a non-stop, no-sleep ...

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Plot Keywords:

poker | gambling | gambling debt | blonde | lingerie | 

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Taglines:

Trust everyone... but always cut the cards

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Matt Damon and Edward Norton played the $10,000 buy-in Texas Hold 'Em(No Limit) championship event at the 1998 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. During the first of four days, Matt Damon had pocket Kings and was knocked out by former world champion and poker legend Doyle Brunson who held pocket Aces.

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Goofs

In the first part of the final poker game between KGB and Mike, when KGB has just reraised $5000, Mike starts pushing all his chips forward to go all in, the shot is taken from behind KGB and you can see KGB's left hand touching his face. The next shot from the opposite direction (when you see the continuation of Mike pushing his chips forward) KGB's hand is down on the table.

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Quotes

Mike McDermott: [Narrating first lines, first getting dressed in their apartment, kissed his girlfriend as she sleeps, then going through belongings to find "three stacks of society", hidden inside a cigar box on top of his desk, inside the top left hand drawer of the same desk, hidden inside an empty VHS box entitled Caro's Pro poker Tells by Mike Caro, behind hidden inside the bottom and back left hand corner of a picture frame, and hidden inside a book entitled Super System by Doyle Brunson] Listen, here's ...

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Connections

Referenced in Scream 3 (2000)

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Soundtracks

Funk #49
Written by Jim Fox, Dale Peters and Joe Walsh (as Walsh, Fox & Peters)
Published by MCA Music Publishing

User Reviews

Who would have thought a film about Poker would be so good?

There is a lot of good stuff in this film. You have a great story, an excellent cast, excellent directing, and a couple great games of poker.

When I first heard about this film, I was a bit skeptical. It's a game about poker, how exciting can it be? The fact that Edward Norton was in the film was the prime reason I wanted to see "Rounders". After seeing the film, I couldn't believe how much I liked it. The film flows very well from start to finish and you can't wait to see what happens in the next scene. Also, the film is filled with interesting, well-written characters.

As I mentioned above, the cast is fantastic. You have Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Gretchen Mol, Famke Janssen, Martin Landau and some small roles by Melina Kanakaredes (of "Providence") and Goran Visnjic (of "ER"). Matt Damon is quite a good actor and this is just another great film to add to his list of already impressive roles. Edward Norton is fantastic as "Worm", he plays a truly unlikeable person, but at the same time you respect him for taking the fall for his friends. John Tuturro is excellent, as always, he has such a cool style about him. John Malkovich is superb in his portrayal of Teddy KGB. And the rest of the cast does a great job as well in their respective roles.

If you are a poker fan, then I recommend you see this film, hopefully you'll enjoy it. I myself am not a huge fan of poker, but I do play the occasional game and I loved this film. I loved the characters, the dialogue, the acting, EVERYTHING. I truly hope you enjoy the film. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew Russian

Release Date:

11 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rounders

Filming Locations:

25 Henry Street, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,459,126, 13 September 1998

Gross USA:

$22,912,409

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$22,912,409

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Spanky Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1