Our star and hero - if he can be called that - is Mike McDermott (Matt Damon). Mike's a good kid who's going to law school on a tuition that's paid by his fantastic ability to win money at poker. He tells us early on that he's a 'rounder': someone who doesn't always go for the big money but grinds it out, one small bet at a time. Seemingly against his own advice, however, he loses all his money in one shot to a ruthless Russian gambler and hustler named Tony KGB (John Malkovich). Mike gives up poker, but it's not long before the devil's advocate walks in. In this case, it's Mike's friend Worm (Edward Norton), who's just out of jail and fifteen large in the red.

      Mike decides to take up poker again to help Worm earn back his debt, but Worm's a pathological card sharp who can't hold on to money long enough. Both of the characters here are well-written and well-acted from the start, which makes their story all the more believable. Damon's brought charm and impressiveness to every feature he's been in since last year's The Rainmaker, and although he doesn't top his Academy Award-nominated performance in Good Will Hunting, he's still fun to watch here. He's clearly a good guy, and the audience is cheering for him all the way. Norton, as Worm, adds a lot of nuance to the character that encourages hate and like at the same time. His wit is over the top, and convincingly so.

      There's no mistaking one fact, however: Rounders is a poker movie, and Dahl decides to keep it almost exclusively so. Money is the real motivator, but poker is used as a concrete front for it. Five cards and chin-high stacks of colored chips are the only reason anyone does anything in this movie. The script attempts to have Damon do some voice-overs that explain some of the various poker games, but the action is so vivid onscreen that anyone without prior understanding of the game won't gain any knowledge. Some of the supporting roles were also written in with an unfitting lack of gusto - such as Mike's girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol); she's got no depth and we have no idea why Mike keeps coming back to her. Martin Landau's law professor also provides some of the movie's slower moments, but his screen time is minimal. For the majority of its running time, Rounders is an exciting and worthwhile feature to watch, and against the competition in a paltry post-summer season, it comes up all aces.

Craig Roush, 1998