High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2005)

DVD

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story is the tale of Stu Ungar a born card player and one of the youngest people ever to not only win the Las Vegas World Series of Poker but he also became a 3 time world champion. Sadly, he had personal demons and personal problems that manifested themselves at all the wrong times. He was someone who just had a proclivity toward excess and sadly this ended up defining a lot about his character.

I had never heard of Stu Ungar before I saw this movie. I love the movie Rounders, and I have had success gambling on the sport of Boxing. Other then this, I know nothing about cards and winning money on these types of games. This movie has everything that's good about all those things. I don't feel that it glamorizes those sports, it just shows them being avenues for people, but sadly, like so many avenues they can lead to very unhealthy things. For someone like Stu Ungar, he seemed to dive headlong into that stuff almost as if he was inviting it.

The cast of this movie is outstanding. Michael Imperioli and Steven R. Schirripa are both great. They have a nice, easy chemistry and I would actually like to them in more movies together. The biggest standout for me was Michael Nouri in the Henry Higgins like role of Vincent. He was just perfect and I felt he completely ate up the screen. He is someone with a wide body of work, and he just seems to be having a great time embodying the character he is playing.

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story was a surprise to watch. I expected it to have a lot of gangsters, cards and New York swagger. It had all of that, but it went deeper. The people involved really respected the material. They elevated it to another level. In the rare cases when this happens a movie of this nature is a fine thing to watch.

Commentary with Michael Imperioli, Director A.W. Vidmer and Poker Expert Vince Van Patten
I expected with the director, the star and a poker expert these guys would be having a good time, and at times they were, but there wasn't enough of it. In fact Imperioli just sounded tired and it seemed Vidmer sort of had to help him along, remembering stories and anecdotes to keep this commentary track going. Michael Mann does that sometimes and it really annoys me. I mean come on guys, this is your movie, get into this a little, huh? Overall, it was nice hearing how the story was made, getting a decent amount of background history on Stu Ungar, but ultimately I think this commentary may have been better served if Imperioli had stayed home and slept.

"Yesterdays" Music Video by Mark Eric
Why is this video on here? The song isn't that bad but all it is are arty shots of the singer singing, then someone walking, riding a motorcycle,being lonely, etc... all set to music. The worst thing about this video is that it looks like something that was edited on Apple's iMovie application. The images aren't bad, but this video seems like just an assortment of unassociated footage, set to music and this does nothing for me. In fact, all that it speaks of is lazy direction. Well, that's how I see it anyway. And what is up with the close-up of the hand and a match? I know that this whole video is supposed to mean something, I just don't get it.

When I first saw this DVD I had no inclination to see it. I mean the last thing I wanted to view was another "mafia-type" movie with none other then Michael "Spider" Imperioli. Then I thought about, and I realized that maybe this role was a chance for him to break out a bit. Then I remembered that his role on "The Soprano's" wasn't altogether too different from this. He is someone who has everything, tremendous talent and ability...yet his personal life is so messed up, it can't help but effect his business life.

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story isn't too much of a stretch, be that as it may it is still a very enjoyable movie. I was never bored, I loved the look and music used within the film, so by accounts I was again proven wrong when I had judged a book by it's cover. There is just something inherently interesting about cards. Maybe it is human behavior, maybe it is the technical aspects of how Stu was able to read other players, their hands...I don't know what is but cards make for very interesting movie plots. I also love that Pat Morita is in this!!!

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story is a winner of a movie. A tale of a man who could have been anything he wanted, without so many problems, if only he hadn't been so hindered by the kind of person he was.