Rounders Review – When Friendship Means Trouble
Rounders 1998 is undoubtedly a fantastic movie where Matt Damon and Edward Norton play the primary roles. From this Rounders review, you will learn more about the film, its cast and background information. Don’t worry, we will go through a detailed Rounders movie review, where we will turn more attention to the play, the plot and how the table turns. You will be surprised how friends became foes and the opposite. The movie shows how a friend is not necessarily a good word and how bad friends can pull you down.
Movie Rounders Cast – Hollywood’s Finest
| 🎞️ Name: | Rounders |
| 🌎 Country: | USA |
| 📅 Released in: | September 4, 1998 |
| 🎥 Directed by: | John Dahl |
| 📝 Written by: | David Levien, Brian Koppelman |
| 🎬 Leading Actors: | Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Turturro, Famke Janssen, John Malkovich, Gretchen Mol |
| ⭐ IMDB Rate: | 7.3/10 |
| 📽️ Duration: | 120 minutes |
| 💰 Budget: | $12 Million |
If we have to be completely honest with you, this is one underrated movie that never received enough attention. Rounders is a film that is rarely mentioned when speaking of Matt Damon and Edward Norton’s roles. This is maybe because Good Will Hunting appeared on screen in 97, a year before Rounders (1998). At the same time, Edward’s The American History X was on the big screen literally a month after Rounders.
However, if you pay more attention to the details, you will see that the Rounders movie cast is also quite well assembled. Edward Norton plays the primary supportive role, the one of the best friend of Matt Damon. In the movie’s back story, you will see other well-known faces from the red carpets like John Turturro, Famke Janssen, and John Malkovich playing the rest of the essential secondary roles.
Now let us tell you a bit more about the story itself. There is a big lesson in this movie: we don’t always pick our friends and how they can swing our life in the wrong direction. It also shows that we should never give up and keep fighting for our dreams no matter what obstacles we meet on the way to our success. If you wonder how all resolves around poker games, just read the following Rounders movie review. Know that you need to watch Rounders online because it is one of the top-rated poker movies.
Rounders Movie Prologue – A Friend In Need Is a Friend Indeed
The beginning shows the main character, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), dealing with his daily routines as a law student. The first ten minutes of the movie are the introduction of the story. You see how well Mike’s life has been set up, slowly but steady, grinding his way up. He has a clever and supportive girlfriend and a promising future as an attorney.
Right after you see how good everything is, you will see him sneaking out at night with all of his savings – $30,000. The actual storyteller in the movie is Mike himself. You see that despite the perfect place he is now and the great future that awaits in front of him, he is still looking for adrenalin and fast money. Needless to say, the movie takes place long before the boom of gambling sites.
He went to the biggest underground poker club, managed by a Russian mobster called KGB. This is where the local high rollers play and where Mike could make his small fortune and start chasing his dream – to be a professional poker player. Yes, but as you can guess, things didn’t go as Mike planned them.
Mike sat at a table with KGB himself and several other of the finest players. After several hours, only Mike and KGB were left on the table, heads up. Unfortunately, Mike thought that he could outplay KGB and made the bold move to go all in. He lost the hand and all of his savings, which was disappointing and pushed him away from gambling, although it was in his blood.
The next scene is several months later when Mike considers himself “out of the game”, but the passion was still on. When he entered the room full of university professors who were playing a private poker game, you will see how he acted. He used his skills to help one of them and was cocky enough to negotiate his summer internship over the hand. He did win the hand and impressed the table of old gentlemen.
For now, everything seemed great, like Mike is already out of trouble. Now is the moment when Edward Norton’s character comes into play. Mike’s childhood best friend, Lester, known as “Worm”, got out of prison. Worm was a troublemaker and passionate gambler too.
Mike went to welcome Lester out of prison and catch up for the time lost. As kids, they were two small mugs that were constantly looking for trouble. They were tricking people on card games even before Lester got sentenced. They went out for a drink, and Worm started influencing Mike to get back in the game, and he did fall for that.
They quickly pulled several old connections and found the perfect game for them. In no time, they synchronised and cracked the game. Mike felt alive for the first time since he lost his savings several months back. The only problem was that when he got home, he started lying to his girlfriend about the last evening and the poker game.
Meanwhile, one of his old friends, Knish, went to check on him at the university and advise him to stay away from his old friend because he is nothing but trouble. Mike’s girlfriend, Jo, also drew the line between their relationship and his poker passion. He was supposed to choose what is more important for him.
Mike went to see his professor, who asked him to stay with him for a drink. The professor was looking to find out more about Mike’s poker tricks. The old gentleman shared his life story in the conversation and told Mike that people could not run from themselves no matter what we do. The professor didn’t know how bad that advice was for Mike.
The Team Is Back Together Grinding & Hustling
When Mike went home with Worm, he saw that his girlfriend already moved out. Then, Worm decided to slip Mike down to the wrong path. He told him that they both know that poker will make him feel better. Mike decided he has nothing to lose, and they went straight to Atlantic City.
After a long but successful poker night, they got back to New York. Mike got late for his student court role play and embarrassed himself in front of the professors he was trying to impress so hard. Later on, Mike learned that Worm’s past caught up with him, and now they must find $22,000 in several days, or the loan shark will break their bones.
This is how, thanks to his extreme loyalty and friendship, Mike got in deep trouble because of his old friend. With literally no money, they were able to hustle their way out again, but this time Mike was playing, Worm was only watching. That was their agreement.
Mike was able to collect around seven grand when Worm came up with the idea to check one reference from the prison. Mike didn’t even realise that Worm is taking him to a place where the local police officers play poker. They agreed for Mike to go in alone, but shortly after, Worm decided to join.
Worm was skilful but not clever; he was always poking the wrong people. He decided to start drawing cards from below to help Mike with his game, but he got caught in action. The result was that they were both beaten up like hell and again with no money. Mike got angry at Worm, and after an argument, he decided that its time to split. Worm suggested they should get in the car and run out of town, while Mike disagreed. This is how Worm left his best friend in the big mess he made.
Mike decided to go to the money-lander and negotiate his terms. Then he realised that KGB stands behind the loan shark. Mike was now stuck in the middle of something that he has no control of. There was only one way to get out of the mess – to play his hand right.
Rounders 1998 – The Closure
In a moment of despair, Mike went to his old friend Knish asking for money. He refused to give him any but agreed to help him with anything else. Mike’s last resort appeared to be the professor he shared a moment with. Surprisingly, the old gentlemen understood the difficult situation Mike’s in and gave him $10,000.
Mike knew that the only way now to pay all his debts is to return to KGB’s underground poker room and challenge him, and he did so. Mike was waiting a long time for this rematch, but was he good enough?
The first hand of the game was super intense because Mike raised first, then the Russian re-raised, and Mike went all in, then KGB folded. That was a breaking moment for our main character because he realised he could beat the old-timer. In several hours, Mike slowly collected everything he came for. He was able to cover his debts to KGB’s loan shark and even return half of what he took from the professor.
Mike was able to take KGB out of his skin, and everybody in the room felt that. The moment Mike went to cash out, KGB started joking about their last game when he took all of Mike’s savings. Then, Mike decided to get back on the table and regain what was once long lost in maybe foolish but bold move.
He found a way to expose KGB and get into his head. The Russian got angry and sloppy, and then he lost it all. Fortunate for Mike, KGB admitted Mike outplayed him and ordered his men to pay him and let him go. Mike made $60,000 out of $10,000 which was enough to pay all of his debts to all the people he owed and then leave town to chase his dream – to became a professional poker player in Las Vegas casinos. Watch Rounders online to see how great the movie really is.
Rounders Movie Stream Options – Watch Rounders Online
At the final, we want to assist you in finding the best Rounders movie stream for you. Of course, for your convenience, we have gathered the most popular ones where you can watch Rounders online:
- Amazon Prime Video
- Netflix
- Hulu
- JustWatch
In case you like similar movies, we suggest you check the rest of the best gambling movies. There are plenty of movies dedicated to the dream to become rich out of gambling, most of them not with a happy ending. However, what is life without a little drama, right?
FAQ
If you know the right questions, you will always find the correct answers. Therefore, we collected the most frequently asked question related to the movie Rounders, its cast and plot. If you decide you are eager to find out more, we suggest you hit the jump button in every answer. Then you will land on the exact part of our Rounders movie review, where you can read the complete explanation on the subject.
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