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Please click the link below to receive your verification email. Cancel Resend Email. Rounders Add Article. Rounders Critics Consensus Richly atmospheric and colorful performances contributed to the movie's entertainment value.

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How did you buy your ticket? View All Photos Movie Info. Under pressure from his girlfriend, Jo Gretchen Mol , he promises to quit gambling.

This lasts until his friend, Lester "Worm" Murphy Edward Norton , gets out of prison and needs to pay off an old debt. The pair come close to earning the money back but are caught cheating.

Then Mike finds out the debt is owed to Teddy and makes one last-ditch effort to beat the Russian. John Dahl. Joel Stillerman , Ted Demme.

Apr 21, Miramax Films, Spanky Pictures. Matt Damon Mike McDermott. Ed Norton Lester 'Worm' Murphy. John Turturro Joey Knish.

Gretchen Mol Jo. Famke Janssen Petra. Martin Landau Abe Petrovsky. Michael Rispoli Grama. Melina Kanakaredes Barbara. Josh Mostel Zagosh.

John Dahl Director. David Levien Writer. Brian Koppelman Writer. Bobby Cohen Executive Producer. Kerry Orent Executive Producer. Bob Weinstein Executive Producer.

Harvey Weinstein Executive Producer. Joel Stillerman Producer. Ted Demme Producer. Christopher Young Original Music.

Definitive Matt Damon Movies. June 19, Full Review…. Top Critic. September 7, Rating: B Full Review…. March 25, Full Review….

June 24, Full Review…. September 21, Rating: 3. October 29, Full Review…. March 25, Rating: 3. March 25, Rating: 2.

A quick comparison might be made to "The Hustler" and related pool shark movies. And like that classic, "Rounders" is about charming deceit.

Matt Damon is the main man here, an ex-poker champ who has "gone straight" until his former partner in crime, Ed Norton, gets out of jail and ropes him back into the thrills and malevolence.

Like the pool movies, and like the glitzier and more ambitious "Oceans" movies, personalities matter most. The setting, the glint of money, and most of all the plots matter less than you'd think.

So everything is pretty good along those lines, partly because Damon is fun to be with and Norton is simply terrific.

An embarrassing appearance in the beginning and end of the movie by an overacting John Malkovich gets in the way of Damon's performance, however.

This is the result of having to make more of the story that was ever there. The main idea--that the two leads get into money trouble and have to earn a ton of cash in a few days of wild poker games--is eventually actually a bit of a bore.

The gamesmanship is always interesting, of course, but the impetus behind it grows old. The addition of Martin Landau as a Jewish lawyer who gives Damon a mitzvah as a kind of honor paid to continue a favor once given him is a touching part of the larger plot, making you wish there was more of this somehow, more of something genuine and a bit different.

It might not have helped that I recently saw "Croupier" with a young Clive Owen as a poker dealer, because that movie, whatever its simplicity and other limitations, actually made the poker scenes more real for me.

In fact, one problem with "Rounders" is you never get to actually sense the betting itself, and the cards--the playing and the strategies of playing--are glossed over with some tossing of chips and flipping of cards, all in a vague muddle.

I did enjoy watching overall, but it left me a little disappointed and restless. No need to waste time endlessly browsing—here's the entire lineup of new movies and TV shows streaming on Netflix this month.

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