Classic film review: Damon, Norton, Famke, Turturro and Landau deal the cards – “Rounders” (1998)

The downside to Rounders (1998) was always that it was, to quote one or two reviews at the time of its release, “lazy.”

It is a genre picture, the ups and downs of the players as one (Matt Damon) tries to concentrate on law school and his classmate/girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) and law school mentor (Martin Landau) as his disreputable buddy (Edward Norton) pulls him back into his favorite truck.

There aren’t many ways to play off this signature style, and director John Dahl (“The Last Seduction,” many TV shows in recent years) and two screenwriters choose the easiest and, one might say, the lamest.

Damon was young, with a young Hollywood haircut, and played a different version of the smart, loud-mouthed, working-class know-it-all type who had launched his career the year before in Good Will Hunting. So the writers wrote him lots and lots of little “read the player/read the room” monologues, some of which were delivered in the lazy screenwriter’s best friend – the voice-over narrator.

“I’ve seen these people a lot, these squares at the table – short stack and long odds against them, all their outs gone – one last card in the deck that can help them.

“I always wondered how they managed to get into such bad shape and how the hell did they think they could turn it around?”

Very nice speech from Matt Damon. Very lazy screenwriting to give it to him.

But it is a GENRE picture. It’s not about the surprises, but about the execution, the immersive environment, the colorful characters. “Rounders” delivers this perfectly. It’s a film that captures a moment. And it was a foretaste of the global “Texas Hold’em” poker trend. Heck, even James Bond played hold’em and not bacarat when Casino Royale was remade.

I swear I can never pass this movie while searching for channels without stopping to enjoy Damon, Norton and a long line of colorful supporting cast – Chris Messina, Michael Rispoli And Bill Camp before they were famous, Turturro and Oscar winners Damon and Landau, Oscar nominee Norton and the future X-woman Famke Janssen.

Damon, a great narrator and chat show guest (Jimmy Kimmel be damned), has long been telling this hilarious story about working with the oddly accented John Malkovich, who plays Russian mafia boss/poker room operator and gambler Teddy KGB in one part the lore of the film.

So there’s a lot to enjoy in “Rounders,” as it’s become one of those mainstream “cult” films that only gets better with age – like “Fight Club.”

The Story – Mike McDermott is a New York law student and has a beautiful classmate/girlfriend. He loves playing cards and swimming with the sharks, but he keeps it under control for her sake and to secure his future.

But when his old vice president Worm (Norton) is released from prison, Mike embarks on a gambling spree to pay off Worm’s gambling debts to Teddy KGB (Malkovich) and the gangster known as Grama (Rispoli).

Everywhere Mike looks, he meets an old rival/friend (Turturro) who sighs over the lost potential of a player who can “read” the table, the cards and his main competitors well, or a player who is collecting debts /Barmaid (Janssen). I used to have something to do with it. Even the judge (Landau), who is his mentor in law school, plays a “friendly” game with academics and other lawyers, which Mike interrupts and “reads” like an old pro.

“You were looking for the third threesome, but you forgot that Professor Green folded on Fourth Street, and now you claim you have it. The prosecutor has made his two pairs, but he knows they’re not good. Judge Kaplan tried to force a flush of diamonds but failed, and Mr. Eisen hopes in vain that his queens will hold. Like I said, the dean’s bet is $20.”

Wurm directed Mike back to the then-underground world of poker rooms as these “Rounders” – slang for hardcore players – travel from Rahway to Bronxville, Newark to Atlantic City and the bowels of NYC in search of quick money.

Worm is a known cheater, but Mike lets him drag him to the games and is winning until Worm sneaks into the same table and looks for shortcuts.

That never works. The film is about Worm’s increasing debt burden, the beatings and threats that Mike faces in his future. Beautiful, rich girlfriend who’s about to get even richer? Law degree?

Norton is in rare, facetious form here, showing he doesn’t know Mike as they get involved in a game with strangers, losing bitterly, to ensure Mike can win big by, say, picking up a few frat boys.

“As my Uncle Les always said, ‘When the money runs out, it’s time to move on.’ So enjoy it, you secret handshaking assholes.”

Landau is allowed to give the old Jewish judge’s big speech “Disappointment in my father”. Mol plays the “it’s me or poker” card as a friend.

“Lazy?” Secure. In this film a straight or a flush is played, never a straight flush.

But this world is a rare thing, a piece of the “California Split” past, before poker and gambling exploded and consumed in the early 2000s. We watch gambling movies like the Altman classic and that Dahl classic and “Mississippi Grind” to try out a lifestyle we would never try. That’s all we really want from this genre.

Hearing Damon recite the script’s pro poker slang and name calling of pro poker players may seem “lazy” and clumsy. But in Damon’s hands it’s musical. The guy can tell a story.

“Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the jerk in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the jerk.”

And there is no shame when critics reject a film that later becomes a classic of its genre and a cultural touchstone. Well, maybe a little. But I think J. Hoberman is happy to be remembered.

Rating: R, violence, drug abuse, profanity

Cast: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Famke Janssen, Martin Landau, Gretchen Mol, John Turturro, Michael Rispoli, Chris Messina, Bill Camp and John Malkovich

Credits: Director: John Dahl, Screenplay: David Levien and Brian Koppelman. A Miramax release on Pluto TV, Amazon, etc.

Running time: 2:01