Another gambling film due for release
Published on 28 April 2008
After the success of the gambling movie ‘21’ it seems another poker style film is about to be released in the States.
‘Deal’ stars Burt Reynolds and Bret Harrison and follows the life of Alex (played by Harrison) as he attempts to be transformed into a world class poker player.
In his desperate bid to do this he enlists the help of a veteran card shark Tommy (played by Reynolds).
Shannon Elizabeth, the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship semi-finalist, will appear as Alex's girlfriend Michelle, while World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly plays Karen "Razor" Jones.
A number of other top poker players have roles in the film as themselves, including Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Moneymaker, Phil Laak and Greg Raymer.
Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will also carry out their real-life jobs as World Poker Tour commentators at the film's tournament grand finale.
Deal is just one of a number of gambling movies to hit cinemas this year.
It follows on from Woody Harrelson poker spoof The Grand and successful Kevin Spacey blackjack feature 21.
A recent poll run by the Canadian based website dose.ca found that The Sting is regarded as the best gambling related movie ever made.
The 1973 blockbuster which starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford won seven Academy Awards including best picture. So for those of you who haven’t seen it what’s The Sting about? Well after his partner in crime is murdered, Johnny Hooker (Redford) teams up with confidence man extraordinaire Henry Gondorff (Newman) to get revenge on the ruthless gangster who took out the hit. Instead of killing the guy, they decide to set up a fake casino in order to con him out of most of his money. Things don’t go as planned (do they ever?) but the real question is if the audience can figure out how things will end before the characters do.
While films such as ‘21’ and ‘deal’ are entertaining and at times cleverly written and made they regrettably fail to keep the viewer on the edge of his or her seats in the same way likes films such as ‘The Sting’ did.
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