The
movie
Although I'm not a card player myself, unless you count Magic: The
Gathering (which actually has a lot in common with poker when it
comes to bluffing and spotting "tells"), I've developed
quite a fondness for films about poker players. There's something
about the battle of wits and nerve inherent in the game, along with
the dramatic pressure of money being on the line, that makes
high-stakes poker a very nice engine at the center of the plot. With
that in mind, Rounders is a can't-miss movie.
Rounders is a classic poker film, focusing on on a young,
talented, and rather cocky player named Mike (Matt Damon) who dreams
of building a stake and heading to Las Vegas and the World Series of
Poker. In one instant, though, it all goes sour, and Mike is left
with nothing. He tries to take up a new life, working himself through
law school with regular jobs instead of poker playing, but when his
high-school buddy "Worm" (Edward Norton) gets out of jail,
Mike finds that he hasn't been able to completely sever his ties to
the world of poker playing... and that the stakes just keep getting
higher.
It takes more than just some slick card-playing scenes to make a
great movie, and that's where Rounders shines. Fundamentally,
the film is a character piece: the heart of the film is Mike's
conflicted relationship with playing cards, and how he deals with the
pressures of winning and losing. His relationship with his girlfriend
(Gretchen Mol) is a relatively small part of the film in terms of
screen time, but it's actually essential to the story, as we see Mike
being forced to come to terms with the choices he must make, and the
consequences of those choices.
One of the things that makes Rounders so engrossing is that it
keeps everything very real. For one thing, Mike's circumstances as a
struggling law student mean that even relatively small amounts of
money are significant. While in other films the pot is so rich as to
take it out of our frame of reference (if I can't imagine having a
million dollars in cash, I can't imagine losing it), here we can
appreciate what it means to Mike to lose the rent money, the tuition
money; we can feel his pain and understand what it means to his life.
On another level, the relationship between Mike and Worm is spot-on
and completely believable, which means that the story developments
that are based on that relationship also ring true.
On the acting front, Rounders is yet another example of why
I'm so impressed with Edward Norton as an actor. Matt Damon does an
excellent job, that's for sure, but he's really playing a variant of
the same character that we see in most of his other films. Norton, on
the other hand, truly vanishes into his character, creating a new
person in each role. Worm is utterly believable, with Norton deftly
bringing out the dissonant notes in his relationship with Mike as the
film proceeds. We see the bond between the two characters, and we
also see how Mike has grown while Worm remains bound by his own
insecurities and, fundamentally, his over-riding selfishness. While
I'm mentioning strong acting performances in Rounders, it's
worth noting that the film's secondary actors are a fine bunch as
well. John Turturro showcases his amazing versatility as an actor in
another excellent performance, and the film's "big names"
contribute nicely to the film as well. Martin Landau does a solid
turn as Mike's sympathetic law professor, and while I wouldn't have
immediately thought of John Malkovich for the role of a Russian
gangster, he makes the performance believable and memorable.
In many ways, Rounders is a coming-of-age story, with its
protagonist forced to confront the questions of what he really wants
from his life, who his friends really are, and what he's willing to
do to achieve his goals. The story has a great deal of depth to it:
it isn't one that relies on abrupt plot reversals to keep the viewer
interested, and it doesn't need them, either... but while it doesn't
have any flashy twists to it, neither is it predictable. While I
won't spoil the film by giving any details, there are several points
during the movie where events go in a different direction than what
I'd been expecting. The ending is very well handled and very
satisfying, providing a wrap-up that's somewhat unexpected but, at
the same time, that feels completely "right" because of the
way the story has developed.
The
DVD
Video
Rounders appears in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer
that offers a reasonably good, but not outstanding, image. The print
looks like it's in good shape, without any print flaws that I could
see, and with minimal noise. The problem with the image is that the
contrast is consistently too heavy: any dark areas of the image that
are very dark are shown as completely black. For instance, the black
coat that Matt Damon wears always looks completely flat black, with
no detail or shading, even in scenes that are lit reasonably
brightly. In a few instances, shadowy areas take on a slightly
brownish tint as well. Overall, however, colors look perfectly
normal, with nice depth and texture. All in all, Rounders
looks respectable (thus earning its three and a half stars for video)
even if the contrast is problematic.
Audio
The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack for Rounders handles the mainly
dialogue-focused film reasonably well. While there's not much by way
of surround effects, the 5.1 mix does have a pleasing depth to it,
making it sound better than it likely would have with a 2.0 surround
track. I did notice on a few occasions that the dialogue sounded a
little bit muffled, though not enough to interfere with understanding
it at all. Considering the overall clean feel to the track, it's a
respectable soundtrack.
A dubbed French Dolby 2.0 track is also included, along with Spanish
subtitles.
Extras
There's a reasonable selection of special features here, some of
which have more merit than others. Two commentary tracks are provided
for the film: the first is with professional poker players Johnny
Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker, and Chris "Jesus"
Ferguson, and the second is with director John Dahl, writers David
Levien and Brian Koppelman, and actor Edward Norton. The poker-player
commentary is nice in theory, but in practice it's really a colossal
waste of time, as the participants seem uncomfortable with the
commentary and don't have much to say. They do venture some thoughts
on the actual card-playing scenes, but they're far from
earth-shattering. The second commentary is far better, with the group
providing a lively and interesting discussion of the making of the
film.
"Heads Up Texas Hold 'Em" is an interactive poker tutorial,
leading viewers through the basics of the game and leading up to an
actual "game." It's actually decently done, and viewers who
don't know anything about poker will probably find it fun to play
with.
The "Behind-the-Scenes Special" is a general promotional
featurette, covering the basics about the ideas behind the film and
the making of the film. For a promo-style piece, it's reasonably well
done, with relatively few clips from the film puffing it up. There
are interviews with the major cast members, though there's nothing
really earth-shattering. A second featurette called "Professional
Poker" takes a look at the real-life inspiration for the story,
and has interviews with top professional poker players discussing how
poker is more a game of skill than chance.
Next, we get "Champion Poker Tips," which is composed of
very short video clips from Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Phil
Hellmuth, and Chris Moneymaker offering insights into how to play
poker successfully. Lastly, in a "Sneak Peeks" section we
get trailers for Jersey Girl and The Ladykillers.
Final
thoughts
This
was the second time that I'd seen Rounders, and I liked it
even more on the repeat viewing than on the initial one. It's a very
nicely done film, telling a fundamentally character-based story
that's made all the more effective by solid performances from the
principal actors, Matt Damon and Edward Norton. You'll probably
appreciate the nuances more if you know something about poker, but no
matter what, Rounders is an excellent film that is amply
deserving of a space in your collection. Highly recommended.
Buy: