...in all the worst ways. Sporting a hackneyed plot (retired pro coaches eager newcomer until they go head-to-head in the big game), pasteboard characters, clichéd dialogue, and some of the most boring poker action ever filmed, "Deal" fails at every level of filmmaking and playing poker (most particularly thanks to its absurd, impossible ending). Burt "Deliverance" Reynolds is embarrassingly wooden, showing every last nanosecond of his age, co-star Bret "Breaking In" Harrison is equally uninspiring, although prettier, and the less said about the rest of the cast, the direction, and pretty much every aspect of this thoroughly pedestrian production, which serves as little more than an extended puff piece for the World Series of Poker, the better. Save yourself the agony of watching this muck hand and go watch "Rounders" again, or even "The Cincinnati Kid." This deal is a complete mis-.
