Blog Review: Rounders

Directed by
John Dahl

Writing credits (WGA)
David Levien (written by) &
Brian Koppelman (written by)

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Genre: Drama (more)

Tagline: In The Game Of Life... Play The Cards You're Dealt (more)

Plot Outline: A young man (Matt Damon) is a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks. (more)

User Comments: Who would have thought a film about Poker would be so good? (more)

Cast overview
Matt Damon .... Mike McDermott
Edward Norton .... Lester 'Worm' Murphy
Paul Cicero .... Russian Thug
John Turturro .... Joey Knish
Ray Iannicelli .... Kenny
Gretchen Mol .... Jo
Famke Janssen .... Petra
Merwin Goldsmith .... Sy
John Malkovich .... Teddy KGB
Martin Landau .... Abe Petrovsky
Sonny Zito .... Tony
Michael Rispoli .... Grama
Melina Kanakaredes .... Barbara
Mal Z. Lawrence .... Irving
Josh Mostel .... Zagosh
Lenny Clarke .... Savino
Peter Yoshida .... Henry Lin
Tom Aldredge .... Judge Marinacci
Jay Boryea .... Russian Thug #2
Lenny Venito .... Moogie
Richard Mawe .... Professor Eisen
Michael Lombard .... D.A. Shields
Beeson Carroll .... Judge Kaplan
E. Matthew Yavne .... Professor Green (as Matthew Yavne)
Eric LaRay Harvey .... Roy
Dominic Marcus .... Dowling
Brian Anthony Wilson .... Derald
George Kmeck .... Prison Guard
Joseph Parisi .... Property Guard
Kohl Sudduth .... Wagner
Charlie Matthes .... Birch
Hank Jacobs .... Steiny
Chris Messina .... Higgins
Michael Ryan Segal .... Griggs
Kerry O'Malley .... Kelly
Slava Schoot .... Roman
Goran Visnjic .... Maurice
Michele Zanes .... Taj Dealer
Allan Havey .... Guberman
Joe Vega .... Freddy Face
Neal Hemphill .... Claude
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. .... Judge McKinnon
Jon C. Chan .... Himself
Lisa Gorlitsky .... Sherry
Joe DiBenedetto .... LaRossa
Nicole Brier .... Sunshine
Bill Camp .... Eisenberg
Tony Hoty .... Taki
Mario Mendoza .... Zizzo
Joe Zaloom .... Cronos
Sal Richards .... Johnny Gold
Josh Pais .... Weitz
John Gallagher .... Bartender
Adam LeFevre .... Sean Frye
P.J. Brown .... Vitter
David Zayas .... Osborne
Michael Arkin .... Bear
Murphy Guyer .... Detweiler
Alan Davidson .... Cabbie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akiko Ashley .... Hooker (uncredited)
Dar Billingham .... Cocktail Waitress (uncredited)
Marcelline Block .... Law Student (uncredited)
Tim Carr .... Cardsharp (uncredited)
Salvatore Cavaliere .... State Trooper (uncredited)
Nick Chantara .... Chilly Willy (uncredited)
Jeff DeRocker .... (uncredited)
Caroline Domenech .... Girl on Street (uncredited)
Brian Donahue .... State Trooper (uncredited)
Bill Golodner .... Russian Thug (uncredited)
Michael Griffith .... Broke Gambler (uncredited)
Jason Hale .... College Student (uncredited)
George F. Miller .... Prison Guard (uncredited)
Natasha Pavlovich .... Hostess (uncredited)
Maria Soccor .... Atlantic City Call Girl (uncredited)

This movie started out pretty well. I was glad that I've spent the last 4 months studying poker players because I was familiar with EVERY name that was mentioned and when they showed the books I was saying "That's Doyle's book" and JK would say "That's Howard's book isn't it" etc. So that part of it was fun. The story was believable and alright. The acting, however, left MUCH to be desired. Gretchen Mol was like she had never acted before and was in a high school play. John Malkovich, who I love, generally, had such a ridiculous russian accent that that was all I could think about. I mean, it's not as if there aren't REGULAR gangsters in New York. There was no reason for him to be Russian that I could see. And it wasn't as if he was trying to pull some REGULAR russian accent, he was trying some strange slow dialect to make us all more impressed. Anyway...watch it for yourself, and call me if you need to know what they're talking about - poker wise.