Rounders: Review By MutantFairy

This movie should be about a poker player, except it's not. It's about a kid following his dream of being on TV. Yes, it's as boring as it sounds.

Somehow this law student is an amazing poker player but we don't really see this because the poker games are not filmed well at all. There is no suspense, no excitement when Matt Damon is playing poker. A good director can make anything seem exciting or suspenseful but this director doesn't, instead the director relies solely on the script. The only "drama" is when Ed Norton might get beat up by the guy to whom he owes money but that isn't something we care about because Norton doesn't care either. When he gets roughed up he is nonchalant about the trouble he is in. when they are racing against the clock, again, there is no sense of urgency. We barely notice any time has gone by. There are other problems with the movie. Matt Damon is supposed to be a great law student but after only a couple of days with his friend he is suddenly completely unprepared for his mock trial. Matt Damon's girlfriend leaves him and then, completely out of character, she is caring & loving to him at the end.

John Turturro was great. John Malkovich seemed miscast as a Russian guy, his accent was terrible. Gretchen Mol was Matt Damon's judgemental girlfriend. Famke Jansen should have been given more screen time, the story would have greatly improved if her character were more involved in some way. What a waste of talent.