# Rounders (1998)

### reviewed by
James Brundage

Rounders has a good poker face, but a light two pair behind it.

A review of Rounders by James Brundage

Clichés. They exist in our everyday lives in the form of platitudes and in our everyday situations in the form of idiosyncratic events. In movies, clichés exist simply as cliches. The single word covers whatever we've seen before, or rather seen before so many times its trite. I guess my definition of cliché, however, is warped by how many movies I've seen.

To any normal viewer walking into Rounders, they'll come out with a smile on their face. They may come out knowing more about poker, too. They also will come out with a slightly funny look on their face because of the highly technical talk and barrage of New York City slang. A good example is the title, which, for all people who are probably wondering what on earth it means, a rounder is street slang for a card shark good enough to make it his or her living. But then comes the movie buff. The movie buff, he'll look at the film and he'll see right through it like an actual Rounder reading a player's hand without looking at it. He'll see what lurks behind the sharp, well-acting eyes of such stars as Matt Damon, (Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan) Edward Nortan (The People vs. Larry Flynt), John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire) , who, don't get me wrong, did great jobs in their part. He'll hear the lines that seem so average. He'll spend his two odd hours enjoying the movie for the poker, but not for the film itself.

It's not that the film is bad. It's a two pair. But, problem is, it had to go down charted waters to go into the uncharted ones. It's enjoyable. It's fun. You may come out feeling like you won, you may come out feeling like you lost. I guess the point is this : seeing Rounders is like playing poker. If you only play part of the time, you'll have fun. If you're a pro, it's simply taking care of business.

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