Rounders

Theatrical Release Date: 1998 09 11 (USA)

UPC: 717951001535

Studio: Miramax

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity]

Summary: John Dahl directed this exploration of New York private clubs devoted to high-stakes poker, with first-person narration from the film's central figure, law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who loses his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). Mike then turns away from cards, devoting his attentions to his law studies and his live-in girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), who's concerned when Mike's former gambling buddy Worm (Edward Norton) is released from prison. She has good reason to worry, since it takes Worm only a matter of minutes to draw Mike back into poker action. When she learns Mike has returned to the poker clubs, she moves out, and Mike begins to lose interest in his studies. Worm has a pre-prison debt, and the threatening Grama (Michael Rispoli) wants the money. Mike not only indulges the irresponsible Worm, he gets involved in Worm's debts. When Grama demands $15,000 on a five-day deadline, the two buddies go into high gear with a non-stop, no-sleep gambling binge that spirals downward toward an ultimate confrontation with Teddy KGB. Darkened club interiors and New York nights are captured by the cinematography of Jean Yves Escoffier, who moved from French films (the 1991 Les Amants du Pont Neuf) to American movies with the reflective surfaces of Excess Baggage (1997) and the patina of pathos found in Harmony Korine's experimental Gummo (1997). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Category: Drama

Rounders

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 02/09/1999

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 121 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Chapter Selections
0. Chapter Selections
1. Program start [:18]
2. "A true grinder" [4:38]
3. "Everyone goes bust" [5:39]
4. Gone straight [1:10]
5. The judges' game [3:43]
6. "I didn't even play" [3:14]
7. "Someone called Worm..." [5:24]
8. Back in the game [3:16]
9. "Caveat emptor, pal" [3:50]
10. Nowhere near the cards [4:16]
11. The lesson never learned [6:17]
12. "Alive for the first time" [4:23]
13. "Our destiny chooses us" [6:03]
14. A night at the Taj [6:05]
15. The juice is running [1:27]
16. Folding the hand [3:11]
17. "Cut him off" [4:08]
18. "Fixing to go down hard" [3:17]
19. "Then it's on me, too" [3:47]
20. Building the bankroll [3:59]
21. Playing the cops [6:28]
22. "Rounding again" [3:17]
23. To play the best [6:56]
24. "I'm looking for a game" [4:39]
25. The safe bet? [5:04]
26. Risking it all [6:56]
27. Vegas and the World Series [2:52]
28. End credits [5:58]

Perry Seibert

Mike is apologizing to his law school girlfriend for how he ended their relationship. She says, "Call me if you need a lawyer." Mike responds, "I will. And I will." That response neatly encapsulates the best aspect of Rounders, a film that takes a clear look at the type of person who becomes involved in the world of high stakes gambling. Matt Damon, playing against the type he had created a year earlier with his work in Good Will Hunting and The Rainmaker, embodies Mike's self-destructive tendencies while simultaneously revealing a self-awareness. He knows he will mess up, hence the wonderful goodbye line to Jo. Mike's best friend Worm is everything Mike would be without his self-awareness. Hunted, desperate, and selfish, Edward Norton's performance evokes Robert De Niro's Johnny Boy in Mean Streets, but not so much so that it is distracting. It is as if Worm saw Mean Streets as a child and decided he had found his role model. Like Dahl's previous film, The Last Seduction, Rounders is a character study, but unlike that film it is a character study that feels like real life. Where Bridgett in The Last Seduction was a love letter to every femme fatale in film history, Mike in Rounders feels like a guy that one might actually know. In addition to the clear-eyed look at the gambling life, Rounders boasts superb supporting performances by Martin Landau, John Turturro, and John Malkovich (who employs an outrageous Boris Badinoff accent that shouldn't work but does). Dahl, with the help of his performers and a solid screenplay, creates an entertaining modern noir. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Chris Messina  Actor 
Christopher Young  Composer (Music Score) 
John Dahl  Director 
Ted Demme  Producer 
Kerry Orent  Executive Producer 
Bob Weinstein  Executive Producer 
Harvey Weinstein  Executive Producer 
Joel Stillerman  Producer 
Bobby Cohen  Executive Producer 
Brian Koppelman  Screenwriter 
David Levien  Screenwriter 
Matt Damon  Actor 
Edward Norton  Actor 
John Turturro  Actor 
Gretchen Mol  Actor 
Famke Janssen  Actor 
John Malkovich  Actor 
Martin Landau  Actor 
Michael Rispoli  Actor 
Melina Kanakaredes  Actor 
Josh Mostel  Actor 
Lenny Clarke  Actor 
Tom Aldredge  Actor 

Country: USA