A Dime & A Nickel Go to the Movies

Here @ AD&AN we're starting a new segment where we review movies, new, old, theater, DVD, whatever, that we've seen. We're calling it, "A Dime & A Nickel Go to the Movies."

Movie: "Rounders."

Starring: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Tuturro, Martin Landau

Plot: Mike McD (Damon) is a law student who's in love with poker, until he loses all his money in one hand against Russian mob boss, Teddy KGB (Malkovich). Mike decides to quit cold turkey and gets hooked up at a day-job by his poker mentor, Knish (Turturro). But Mike gets the bug back when his childhood friend and fellow poker shark, Worm (Norton), gets out of jail. Though Mike is excited to be with his friend again, Worm does more harm than good, even when he doesn't intend to.

Reaction: "Rounders" seems a little ahead of it's time. It wasn't until high school when I noticed kids playing Texas Hold 'Em in the hall for push-ups, and the World Series of Poker on ESPN. The movie came out in 1998. Damon, Norton, Malkovich, Turturo, and Martin Landau (who plays Mike's teacher at law school) are all favorites of mine and do a great job acting (Plus, who doesn't want to see John Malkovich doing a Russian accent?). Norton isn't featured as much as he should, but Damon does a great job carrying the movie. I hesitate to call Poker a sport, but "Rounders" feels like a sports movie, and a good one at that.

Rating: "Rounders" gets 2 quarters and 3 dimes, a total of $0.80.