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

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.

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Plot Keywords:

poker | female frontal nudity | gambling | female nudity | loan shark | 

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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

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew Russian

Release Date:

11 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Apuesta final

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, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$22,905,674, 8 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

It is said in the movie that Matt Damons characters favourite actor is Clint Eastwood, Eastwood later directed Damon in Hereafter released in 2011.

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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

Mike McDermott: [talking in one of the corners of the Russian and Turkish bathhouse] I never told anybody this, about eight nine months ago, I'm at the Taj it's late and I see Johnny Chan walk in and he goes and sits in the three hundred six hundred section and the whole place stops and everybody puts an eye on him, after a while there wasn't a crap going on because all the high rollers are over there watching and some of them playing but they're giving their money to him and say "oh", I played with the world ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Rounders: Inside Professional Poker (1998)

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Soundtracks

The Worm
Written by Jimmy McGriff
Performed by Jimmy McGriff
Courtesy of Blue Note Records

User Reviews

This is NOT a Hold 'Em Tutorial

This film was unjustly panned as lethargic and bleak without a purpose. Considering how Hold 'Em has developed into one of the biggest social fads in the last decade, I would say that this film captures every emotional aspect the 'swings' of No Limit typically carry.

I had absolutely no idea how to play the game when I first saw this movie about five years ago. The dialogue is wrought with jargon that almost makes a mockery of itself. Especially since much of the movie is done with voice-over, I can see where critics are coming from. However, the viewer should not allow themselves to get bogged down with it all, we get the gist with well-developed staging and performances.

Damon and Norton play off each other better than Damon and Affleck. Though the story echoes in the wake of Scorsese's 'Mean Streets', the performances seem more detailed than the Keitel/DeNiro combo. The supporting roles add great depth to the film, and Tutorro shines as the wise-old has-been that successfully provides Damon's character with the cold-hard truth he never seems to adhere to (until it is too late).

Above all, we feel compelled to cheer for Damon's Mike McDermott the ENTIRE time. He acknowledges his 'bad' play but constantly tries to explain that this is a game of skill and not luck. This is an important element considering the widely accepted belief that any success in gambling is the result of luck. This may be true in the bloodsucking casinos, but in Hold 'Em you play the chips AND the man.

Now that baseball is out of the Olympics, perhaps we will see a push for a true "WORLD Series of Poker". Then again, I also wanted to see 'Four Square' made into an official event when I was 8, so maybe I'm just talking out of my ass...

Should be commended as a precursor to a pandemic fad that is costing teens (and their parents) millions daily.

*** (of ****)