Croupier
not rated 91 minutes The Shooting Gallery starring Clive Owen, Alex Kingston, Gina McKee, and Kate Hardie written by Paul Mayersburg directed by Mike Hodges
A Review by Frankie Paiva
When I saw Croupier, there were no coming attractions. While I saw the movie in a perfectly respectable Loews Cineplex theater with three screens, no studios thought that their money would get put to good use by placing a trailer before this film. This could be a sign that expectations were low in regard to how much of an audience this movie would receive. More likely though, it's a sign that little movies like these are often the best films out there. While some smaller movies get the mainstream quota achieved by hits like Life Is Beautiful, Being John Malkovich, and The Blair Witch Project there are others that remain doomed to the film festival. Adopted by The Shooting Gallery as their fifth film in this year's lineup of six, Croupier is an intense film noir piece worthy of your attention. The scheduled two week run does shame to a movie that should play for longer for all to see and experience.
Clive Owen plays Jack Manfred. Jack is a struggling writer who takes a job as a croupier in a casino after his father suggests it to him. Jack is currently in a relationship with Marion (McKee), who doesn't like his new job. Life as a croupier is a depressing one. Jack watches people lose their money night after night. Another croupier winds down after work with drinks at a local prostitute heavy bar. “The job will kill you if you don’t.� he says. Even though strict rules issued by the casino forbid it, Jack soon begins sleeping with a co-worker named Bella (Hardie). Jack breaks another rule when he begins seeing Jani de Villiers (Kingston), a gambler from South Africa who catches his interest. He soon falls in love with her, but Jani has ulterior motives to their relationship. She asks Jack to take part in a hiest to rob the casino, offering him quite a deal of money to do so.
All the classic detective movie elements are here. There are many voice-overs, there is a woman with a secret, and the characters smoke a lot and drink a lot. Indeed everything needed is here but the detective. While Croupier is certainly not a mystery, it does a brilliant job of almost turning itself into one in the last few minutes. Questions we weren't really asking get answered, and it's a nice touch to end the film with. Clive Owen is terrific as the lead character and makes his sullen, emotionless view of the world an interesting outlook. You have no doubt the casino he works in is real. The filmmakers did a remarkable job of making you feel that somewhere this casino really does exist. Everything seems so dark and gloomy in this world. At times, I felt black and white would have been more appropriate to this movie than color. Either way, it would still be thrilling. The lights, the noise, the people, everything that might annoy one in a regular casino is here to set a unique atmosphere. The cheaters and obsessive gamblers Jack encounters in the casino seemed to me a metaphor of the characters in the movie. All of the them are trying to cheat at something or are permanently downcast with nowhere to turn. Croupier is not rated. If submitted, it would get rated R for sexual situations including graphic nudity, language, and some violence. Several unneeded breasts are present. Then again, maybe this too is a suggested way that gamblers escape from their troubles. Not only is Croupier a high quality drama, but it made me think about what leads people to become obsessive gamblers. The movie doesn't come up with an answer. Then again, maybe there isn't one.
B+
Frankie Paiva SwpStke@aol.com http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/mainpage.html
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