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A young man (Damon) is a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks. | »
Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) is a law student who has given up his true talent (and love), gambling, when he loses all of his money to Teddy KGB (John Malkovich in a hilarious role). Months later, when his friend Worm (Edward Norton) gets out of jail and is on a strict deadline to repay a $15,000 debt to Teddy, he must decide whether or not to help his friend, threatening his student status and relationship with his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol). Tightly written, beautifully photographed by the brilliant Jean-Yves Escoffier, and well-played all across the board (particularly by Norton), this is a work of slick, enjoya...
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ble entertainment.
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John Dahl directed this exploration of New York private clubs devoted to high-stakes poker, with first-person narration from the film's central figure, law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who loses his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). Mike then turns away from cards, devoting his attentions to his law studies and his live-in girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), who's concerned when Mike's former gambling buddy Worm (Edward Norton) is released from prison. She has good reason to worry, since it takes Worm only a matter of minutes to draw Mike back into poker action. When she learns Mi...
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ke has returned to the poker clubs, she moves out, and Mike begins to lose interest in his studies. Worm has a pre-prison debt, and the threatening Grama (Michael Rispoli) wants the money. Mike not only indulges the irresponsible Worm, he gets involved in Worm's debts. When Grama demands $15,000 on a five-day deadline, the two buddies go into high gear with a non-stop, no-sleep gambling binge that spirals downward toward an ultimate confrontation with Teddy KGB. Darkened club interiors and New York nights are captured by the cinematography of Jean Yves Escoffier, who moved from French films (the 1991 Les Amants du Pont Neuf) to American movies with the reflective surfaces of Excess Baggage (1997) and the patina of pathos found in Harmony Korine's experimental Gummo (1997). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and the 1998 Montreal Film Festival.
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De rechtenstudent Mike (Matt Damon) verliest al zijn geld tijdens een spelletje poker. Hij denkt z'n les wel geleerd te hebben, en hij belooft z'n vriendin nooit meer te zullen spelen. Als zijn beste vriend Worm (Edward Norton) uit de bak komt wordt hij echter weer teruggesleurd in het poker-circuit. Hij krijgt een gigantische schuld bij de Russische maffia-baas Teddy KGB (John Malkovich).
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John Malkovich is easily one of the finest actors working today, but I'm not sure if I'd ever trust him with an accent from east of London ever again. Take, for example, his performance in Rounders . While he's meant to be a villainous Russian gangster, he's vocal interpretation of the character incites far more laughter than it does chills. Going way over the top, it seems that Malkovich decided to forgo having a vocal coach and instead tried to do his best impression of an evil Yakov Smirnoff . Hopefully he doesn't make that same kind of mistake in his newest project. The Playlist has learned that the Oscar nominated-actor is lined up to star in director Gabriele Salvatores ' Serbian Education. Adapted from the Nicolai Lilin autobiography of the same name, the story is an investigation of the Serbian criminal underworld set between 1985 and 1995. Malkovich will play Grandfather Kuzja, a
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