ROUNDERS Reviewed by Jamie Peck
Matt Damon, fresh off his "Good Will Hunting" hot streak, is perfect for the role of Mike McDermott, a young law student with a tremendous gift for gambling. But after losing all of his tuition money in a killer high-stakes match with Russian poker aficionado Teddy KGB (John Malkovich, deliciously hammy), he shifts his focus to scholarly matters, leaving his true area of expertise far, far behind. Things change, however, when Mike's old buddy Worm (Edward Norton) re-enters his life - it seems Worm, just out of jail, owes a hefty sum to nasty thugs, and is counting on his friend's superlative skills to help him pay off the debt.
That "Rounders"' story quickly molds itself into a conventional, predictable tale of redemption doesn't hinder its potency. Director John Dahl, infamous for his neo-noirs "Red Rock West" and "The Last Seduction," gets extremely convincing mileage out of the been-there, done-that plot mechanics by trumping up the relationship between Mike and Worm. Damon and Norton bring so much to their roles that they'd be worth catching even if "Rounders" ultimately folded, but the movie ups its fascinating ante by contrasting their wildly different ways of winning. Any sequence where the two men sit at the table together is an unarguable highlight.
If only the other character interaction was as successful, "Rounders" might merit consideration when it comes time to number the year's best films. Current "It Girl" Gretchen Mol is sweetly appealing as Mike's girlfriend Jo, aware and weary of his seedy past, but her scenes with Damon number too few to be very effective. John Turturro's aging mentor and Famke Janssen's tempting siren, both interesting sketches, are hampered by the same limited screen time. And as a wizened judge, the great Martin Landau makes memorable a role that's mostly a plot device - he's on hand mostly to sort-of save the day and provide a voice for "Rounders"' moral.
That moral, by the way, is "Our destiny chooses us," and it's something of a surprise when "Rounders" supports this solemn proverb by eschewing the conclusion you might expect; Mike does learn from his mistake, but neither the mistake nor the way he learns from it is what it initially appears to be. In the end, "Rounders" sees gambling as less a mere addiction than a potential art form, but the poker itself is only a metaphor for a much larger picture. The road to true fulfillment lies within the realization and exercising of your natural passions, the movie espouses, no matter what they might be. Here, low-rent lowlifes like Worm just aren't cut out for the cards.
Screenwriters David Levien and Brian Koppelman entertain and educate in their quest to vividly render a culture that's often generalized by movies; even complete poker neophytes should cross the line from observers to participants when the movie gets to its concluding game scene. Inside every adventurous filmgoer, there is a desire to be taken someplace new and exciting, and that's the precise allure of "Rounders." It ultimately matters not that a few of our tour guides feel partially-realized or that the journey itself is cluttered with sites we've seen before, because the final destination is a satisfying one. In the end, "Rounders" holds a winning hand.
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