ROUNDERS REVISITS THE COLOUR OF MONEY
Rounders is a film in a similar vein to Hustler and The Colour of Money. Both of those films deal with pool. Instead, Rounders deals with poker - but this time, the lead character is a 'sensible' player - forced to re-enter the game he gets a rush from because his best mate gets off from prison owing money to heaps of loan sharks. A familiarity with poker would help with the viewing experience, but things are sufficiently explained by the narrator (Matt Damon as the lead character) for even the unknowing player to gain an appreciation of what takes place. The scenes are framed very well, edited sharply in a way that externalises the internal feelings of the players. As the narrator is such a sharp reader of the thoughts of the players, the director must convey them to us, and he does so brilliantly. In this game, poker becomes more than just a game - it is an art form - it is about reading human behaviour and about reducing the man. It, like boxing, is a male game, and hence the lack of understanding from his girlfriend.
The movie starts off with Damon's character losing his entire savings on misreading KGB, a russian player in the dark underground of illegal poker gaming houses. The winnings for that would lead him to vegas, and the world series of poker. Poker, we are told, has nothing to do with luck - it requires prodigious talent coupled with an uncanny ability to read the behaviour of people. Shaken by such a huge loss, he sticks to driving a lorry truck and doing a law degree - where he impresses his teachers and future lawyers and judges with his commanding knowledge of the game. His best friend, worm, played excellently by Ed Norton , comes out of jail owing a bundle of money and makes his problems worse by borrowing even more. Worm doesn't play straight - he is an artful cheat. This dodginess coupled with his increasing losses in his best friend's name brings the now sensible mate into the dark side of loss. The final showdown between KGB is predictable but ultimately still enjoyable due to the mastery of the camera that the director has. While not as brilliant as some of the pool scenes shot by the masterful Martin Scorsese in The Colour of Money, here we have a film that is in many ways the equal of the latter - it is the Hustler of the nineties - and well done for that.
75/100