In one sense, Rounders is like nothing I've ever seen; in another sense it's like everything I've ever seen. Director John Dahl may be famous for his love of noir with The Last Seduction springing to mind; a sort of cross between a typical 1990s heist film and the classic that is Double Indemnity but with Rounders Dahl doesn't stick to what he loves most enough to make the film anything too fantastic. Let's be honest: Rounders is a sports film and no, it's not about the sport/baseball hybrid 'rounders'; it's about poker which in itself sparks some debate surrounding whether or not it's actually a sport or just a mere form of gambling. In my book, it's a sport since it takes brains and skill to win at the game whereas something like wrestling, which is fake for the best part, can be considered of the sporting variety.
So there you have it: a sports film directed by a man in love with noir which is still evident in this film and revolving around an engaging plot whilst at the same time containing good acting. What's clever here is that the director is challenging us and poker as a whole into contemplating whether Poker is a sport. The film follows a familiar sports narrative, ie; it has the hero with nothing to loose; the disgraced mentor who is able to pick the hero back up onto his feet; a winning and/or training montage and of course 'the final showdown with the villain' only in these stories it takes place on a sports field (or a Poker table, in this case).
During the film, my mind kept harking back to Paul Newman's 1961 sports film The Hustler, revolving around another popular American sport: 9 ball pool, since although both films are decades apart in terms of film-making; the way the story is told and the way events play out remain the same. I'll never forget Newman's character playing frame after frame with Minnesota Fats and then leaving the hall a dejected and tired man after loosing so heavily; the same sort of way Mike McDermott (Damon) does so in Rounders. What follows is painful and eventful uphill struggle involving loved ones becoming detached, hard times coming to the surface and lots and lots of the respective sport being played in Rounders, this aids McDermott since it enables to get him closer to the powers that be (Abe Petrovsky Landau) regarding his education. This not only gives us the feeling that time is passing and relationships are developing but is a great way to not only introduce a character but to also demonstrate what a skilled Poker player McDermott is needless to say, it happens early on in the film.
Although a sports film as such, the essence of noir can't help but worm its way into the frame. What I couldn't see was the point of it all: There are gangsters of the Russian kind; lots of people smoking; voice-overs; gambling and a dystopian urban setting. Fine you think, but the femme fatale character of Petra (Janssen) appears and then disappears without too much of an incident and without too much evidence to suggest she's even a femme fatale in the first place, there is no real conflict for the middle period of about forty minutes apart from the usual montages of poker games being won although sometimes we'll be shown the games; often when they go wrong (the match with the sheriffs is a good example). I'm not sure if Rounders was supposed to be a neo-noir of sorts because although it has the basis to be one, it doesn't utilise enough conventions of the genre to be considered one and if it's not a noir then it is most definitely a sports film; albeit a rather average one. I liked the way we are supposed to feel for McDermott; I liked the way Edward Norton does some 'acting within acting' or playing a 'character within a character' and the way characters and incident float in and out of McDermott's life was sometimes effective but Rounders is a film that relies too heavily on generic substance and star power to be truly memorable even if it does raise the debate about whether poker should be a sport or not.
So there you have it: a sports film directed by a man in love with noir which is still evident in this film and revolving around an engaging plot whilst at the same time containing good acting. What's clever here is that the director is challenging us and poker as a whole into contemplating whether Poker is a sport. The film follows a familiar sports narrative, ie; it has the hero with nothing to loose; the disgraced mentor who is able to pick the hero back up onto his feet; a winning and/or training montage and of course 'the final showdown with the villain' only in these stories it takes place on a sports field (or a Poker table, in this case).
During the film, my mind kept harking back to Paul Newman's 1961 sports film The Hustler, revolving around another popular American sport: 9 ball pool, since although both films are decades apart in terms of film-making; the way the story is told and the way events play out remain the same. I'll never forget Newman's character playing frame after frame with Minnesota Fats and then leaving the hall a dejected and tired man after loosing so heavily; the same sort of way Mike McDermott (Damon) does so in Rounders. What follows is painful and eventful uphill struggle involving loved ones becoming detached, hard times coming to the surface and lots and lots of the respective sport being played in Rounders, this aids McDermott since it enables to get him closer to the powers that be (Abe Petrovsky Landau) regarding his education. This not only gives us the feeling that time is passing and relationships are developing but is a great way to not only introduce a character but to also demonstrate what a skilled Poker player McDermott is needless to say, it happens early on in the film.
Although a sports film as such, the essence of noir can't help but worm its way into the frame. What I couldn't see was the point of it all: There are gangsters of the Russian kind; lots of people smoking; voice-overs; gambling and a dystopian urban setting. Fine you think, but the femme fatale character of Petra (Janssen) appears and then disappears without too much of an incident and without too much evidence to suggest she's even a femme fatale in the first place, there is no real conflict for the middle period of about forty minutes apart from the usual montages of poker games being won although sometimes we'll be shown the games; often when they go wrong (the match with the sheriffs is a good example). I'm not sure if Rounders was supposed to be a neo-noir of sorts because although it has the basis to be one, it doesn't utilise enough conventions of the genre to be considered one and if it's not a noir then it is most definitely a sports film; albeit a rather average one. I liked the way we are supposed to feel for McDermott; I liked the way Edward Norton does some 'acting within acting' or playing a 'character within a character' and the way characters and incident float in and out of McDermott's life was sometimes effective but Rounders is a film that relies too heavily on generic substance and star power to be truly memorable even if it does raise the debate about whether poker should be a sport or not.