Rounders

Rounders Product Details Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1 Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No MPAA rating : s_medR R (Restricted) Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.38 x 0.6 inches; 4 Ounces Director : John Dahl Media Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC Run time : 2 hours and 1 minute Release date : February 9, 1999 Actors : Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Gretchen Mol, John Malkovich, Paul Cicero Producers : Bob Weinstein, Bobby Cohen, Christopher Goode, Harvey Weinstein, Joel Stillerman Product description ROUNDERS WS A little drunk on its own arcaneexotica as a gambling movie, Rounders is a film that takes us inside a worldof high-stakes card players but falls short on such essentials as characterdevelopment, relationships, that sort of thing. Still, it is a real curiosity,written by a couple of guys (David Levien and Brian Koppelman) who appear toknow something about the dark underbelly of card hustling for fun and profit.Matt Damon stars as a reluctant law student who can't put aside hissubterranean career of playing poker and blackjack for big money. After heloses his post-grad nest egg to a weird Russian kingpin (John Malkovich)--andalso loses his disgusted girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) in the process--Damon'scharacter turns to an unreliable old buddy (Edward Norton) for a dangerousgame of sharking wherever there happens to be a game underway: frat boys,cops, bad dudes, you name it. Norton appears to be living out every youngactor's fantasy of re-creating Robert De Niro's prototypical head case inMartin Scorsese's Mean Streets, and while his performance is burdened byobvious quotation marks, his estimable talent still shines through. Damon'scharm and intelligence bring some oomph to the curiously flat proceedings, andwhile his hushed, soul-bearing scenes with Martin Landau (as a law professorwho takes a shine to the kid) seem gratuitous, they're still nice to watch.Behind all this is director John Dahl (Red Rock West), who is not exactly atthe top of his game here but who brings his distinctive toughness to thecrime-noir tone. --Tom Keogh

RNDRS DVD 120 MIN MRXD VIDEO PRODUCTS PRERECORDED