Dec. 25, 2004

The only difference between a drug and poison is the dose.
Dr. Andrew Weil

Movie critics seem to agree that if Matt Damon, off the success of his movie Good Will Hunting, had not been the feature attraction in Rounders, the movie might never have achieved its mediocre $8.8 million opening weekend gross.

Most poker players agreed the film about a law student drawn back to poker, was on target, well choreographed, and full of realistic sequences. Some heretofore unknowns (of the poker world) achieved a bit of notoriety as a result of the film's realism but the movie couldn't compete with the major box office smash hits such as Rush Hour (Jackie Chan, not Johnny), which grossed $33 million the following opening weekend.

While the fairly successful 1994 made-from-TV comedy Maverick with it's A-list cast of Mel Gibson, James Garner and Jodie Foster fared better in its opening week by grossing slightly more than $17 million, the movie itself was panned by the users of rec.gambling.poker. (Although the final hand seemed a bit contrived when it came to the final hand, Cincinnati Kid ranks as the most popular poker flick among the group users.)

Not too long ago, the most promising gambling biopic about Stu Ungar who was revered for his uncanny poker prowess and pitied for the seedier part of his lifestyle that brought about his early death, could not find a distributor. Instead, it was scheduled to open on a cable TV channel prior to its release on DVD.

Now, like a wily snake, poker has reared its unique head, hissed, and struck, but instead of bringing poker to the movies, success has brought movies to poker. Gaming magazines are feverishly trying to scrounge up as many celebrities as possible. Actor James Woods, for example, was on the cover of four magazines this past month, and the darling of the younger crowd, Ben Affleck preceded him. The World Poker Tour recently featured a match between the ³stars² of two cable channel shows and Bravo is currently running its Celebrity Poker series.

We are currently intoxicated with the world of poker so what should be happening is the production of a good poker movie.

We don't need to see an aging Clint Eastwood-type astronaut being pulled from a high-stakes game at Bellagio to save the world from a devastating meteor shower.

We aren't wishing for Santa Loses his Sleigh starring Nicolas Cage as the portly Kris Kringle who, instead of streaking across the Nebraska skies with presents for all the good little boys and girls below, spends Christmas Eve in a heads-up Omaha match against Scrooge (starring Robert De Niro in his most powerful role to date.).

We certainly don't need to see George Clooney rounding up his buddies to take down the likes of T.J. Cloutier, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negraneau, and Doyle Brunson in a bad remake of a bad flick remake of a classic.

And save us from Jack Nicholson in a recreation of the Cincinnati Kid with a different but not surprising twist at the end.

To be honest, I'd watch the Cages and Clooneys and the Nicholsons in their movies.

However, I believe to be a success, a film featuring poker as its central theme has to cover the good and the bad and be more character driven than plot oriented. It should probably emulate (but not imitate) something like Saving Private Ryan where the Tom Hanks character struggles with the ideals of soldier versus peaceful citizen. Or less violently, it could follow the lines of the Anthony Hopkins portrayal of C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands, who risks his serene, stable but perhaps unexciting life as a academician for a relationship with a divorcee.

A good poker movie, not too little or too much‹just the right dose would be terrific.

And now, the nominees for best screenplay depicting poker in a movie, are...