Gambling: A Movie Curse?

With the opening this weekend of 21, about six MIT mathletes who broke the Vegas blackjack bank in the 1990s through savvy card counting, I cant help but think of the great gambling movies 21 is entertaining but too much of a fact stretcher to qualify and how most of them get dealt a losing hand at the box office. Am I alone out here, people? Are none of you jazzed by the idea of placing a bet, at least at the movies? Cards on the table: My favorite poker movie ever is Rounders, which Ive watched too many times for my own good and from which Ive memorized dialogue to live by. As Matt Damons poker ace Mike McDermott says early on, If you cant spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker. In the words of Mikes ratty partner, The Worm (Edward Norton in his most underrated performance), Rounders is all-the-way nice. The Worm is sure that his pal Mike will join him for a big score in Atlantic City: Your favorite actor is Clint Eastwood, man he always doubles back for a friend. Which leads me back to the question: Why do moviegoers not double back for gambling movies? Im not counting last years Lucky You, with Eric Bana drowning in cards and angst. It was a deserved flop from the usually fine director Curtis Hanson. Im talking about blue-chip gambling movies that people go, Huh whats that ? when I bring them up. Here are a few of my top picks. Let me know if Im missing any of yours.

ROUNDERS 1998

Like I said, John Dahls cult movie gets me every time, especially John Malkovich as the mad Russian Teddy KGB, who takes Damons law student for $30,000 in tuition at the poker table. Munching Oreo cookies, splashing the pot with chips (a poker no-no) and speaking with an accent that defies deciphering (Ho-kay, Meester sum of a beech), Malkovich soars so far over the top, hes passing Pluto. I love it.

CALIFORNIA SPLIT 1974

Even with the legendary Robert Altman in the directors chair, this gem about the compulsion to gamble never found its rightful high place in the Altman canon. George Segal and Elliot Gould are in top form in a film that examines the underside of a winning streak in Reno. The dialogue is pitch perfect. Gould to a casino cashier: Id like a thousand dollars worth of credit short pause Tell you what, just give me a roll of nickels.

THE COOLER 2003

Wayne Kramer s smashing directing debut deserved a lot more attention. William H. Macy is superb as a Vegas gambler with a knack for losing. His casino-manager pal (Alec Baldwin, revelatory in an Oscar nominated role) hires him as a cooler, a piece of walking Kryptonite who can jinx a high roller just by sitting next to him. Then love in the person of the glorious Maria Bello enters the picture and his bad luck changes. Or does it?

CROUPIER 1999

Mike Hodges set this low-budget mindbender in a London casino. Clive Owen excels as a wannabe writer who takes a job as a croupier. Hes grown up around betting tables and sees his job as a chance to observe people as subjects for his novel. The job appeals to Jacks need for control and emotional distance. He gets to watch the suckers play at life and risk losing. And so do we, with mounting fascination.

CASINO 1995

Martin Scorseses 17th film rarely gets any love, many wrongly consider it a lesser sequel to GoodFellas. But theres no better film about the business of gambling. And as Robert De Niro runs his Vegas casino, the audience gets to follow the money with a documentary realism that brings out Scorsese genius for obsession.