| Croupier |
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| Rating: Poor Distributor: The Shooting Gallery MPAA Rating: R Running Length: 1 hour, 31 minutes U.S. Release Date: April 21st, 2000 (limited) Genre: Drama, Foreign (no subtitles because it is British) Director: Mike Hodges Cast: Clive Owen, Gina McKee, Alex Kingston, and Katie Hardie. |
| Plot: Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) is a struggling writer who takes on a job as a croupier (a dealer at a casino) for money, and to get material for his book. He is very able at the job because he spent a lot of time at a casino when he was younger because his father was a compulsive gambler. He has a girlfriend (Gina McKee) who despises his new job, and a few women he takes on the side (Alex Kingston and Katie Hardie). Jack who first plays the rules of his job by the book begins to break rule after rule. He finally flat out cheats when he is asked to by one of his women on thise side. However, we later discover his girlfriend is cheating on him too He accepts because he has a sort of split personality named Jake he claims he becomes when he is at the casino. |
| Critique: Croupier, is a dull, boring, mean-spirited film. It is tedious and pointless. Our main character Jack, or Jake as he sometimes calls himself drudges around being bitter and cruel with no real want or love. He doesn't even care for his girlfriend and I'm not sure she even cares for him. In fact, no one cares about anyone in this two dimensial film with no feeling or emotion. To top things off the plot couldn't be less engaging. It is so uninvolving and lacking of any real meat that it falls falt on itself. It has nothing to go on, and so it becomes boring. The direction is weak, and the acting is dull. Clive Owen's cold lead performance is only the beginning, as we whitness Gina McKee sleep walk through the film. You feel any minute someone is just going to fall asleep on you. Alex Kingston who is pretty solid on ER the television show, is melodramatic and tedious in this film. The audience is also tricked into thinking something worthwhile is going to happen in the movie. Well, nothing does. A lot of critics have really loved this film, and maybe it's in desperation to find a film that should fill the void in a slow year for film. I think they should look elsewhere, this is one bad film. I highly recommend you don't see it. review by supernothingman |