The Last Casino Review – Underrated Gem
Who would’ve thought that university activities and blackjack could go hand in hand? Join The Last Casino review and learn more about the card-counting students. In addition, we will talk about all important details surrounding the film, including the plot, critics’ opinions, information about the production and the cast, the real inspiration, and much more.
The Last Casino movie is a Canadian comedy-drama that has not experienced a lot of attention. Despite that fact, we believe that it brings an amazing and capturing story that rightfully earns it a place amongst the best blackjack movies In the paragraph to come, you can expect a short summary of the story. Let us begin!
The Last Casino Film – Overview of the Plot
Do not worry; we will not shoot at you with any major spoilers. Instead, we will give you a rough idea of the movie. First and foremost, it is important to know that The Last Casino movie is heavily inspired by the MIT Blackjack Team, but we will dedicate a whole section to that. That said, let us begin with the story.
The Last Casino film begins with a scene showcasing the mathematics professor Doug Barnes who plays at a blackjack table, using a tactic known as card counting. By carefully calculating the movement of the cards, he plans out every next move and card draw. Not long after, Wilson, the casino security manager, grows suspicious of Barnes and begins watching him on the security cameras.
Eventually, after another successful hand, Wilson manages to capture Barnes’ face and effectively blacklists him from the casino. While at his workplace, Barnes gets a visit from Orr, his usurer. The newcomer confronts Barnes about the money he owns him and wonders how he will be able to pay after being banned from the casino.
Then, Doug shares his idea of creating a team of card counters from the students at the university where he teaches. In response, Orr snips off one of Barnes’ fingerprints, saying that this will help Barnes to remember him and that he will consider the proposal.
After a subtle search around the university, Barnes finds three candidates and recruits them. The first is George, a student who has memorised pi 70 units past the decimal, followed by Scott, who aces a complex memorisation test. His last recruit is Elyse, a waitress who successfully memorises a complicated pizza order issued by Barnes for a short period of time.
Barnes manages to convince his new recruits to join him in his endeavour, despite admitting that there will be a little risk involved. Needless to say, neither of the young students had much experience with casinos and even live dealer blackjack tables.
He proceeds to teach his students how to count cards, and once they are ready, Barnes brings them to Orr and explains to them that he is their investor. Subsequently, the usurer agrees to lend them money. Orr also tells Barnes that they are partners; thus, he will get 75% of Barnes’ 50% share.
As the card counting squad is heading towards their first casino, Barnes hands them different identities. While at the first facility, George becomes overwhelmed by the game, but thankfully Elyse jumps in to help. Throughout their first evening at the casino, they managed to score $6000.
Elyse is approached by a man who claims to be a gambler chaser during one of the following nights in the casino. The young woman asks him if he has noticed any professionals at the casino. Respectively, he points out Scott and says that it is obvious that he is a card counter.
Being sceptical of the plan and the students’ performance, Orr goes to Barnes and tells him that the deal is off. His main arguments are that the students are struggling while Barnes’ compulsive gambling is getting out of hand. As he is leaving, he gives Barnes one week to pay back his $100,000.
Shortly after the unpleasant encounter, Doug meets with the student and tells them that they have one week to earn $500,000 and that Orr is not a man they want to mess with. Hearing that news, the students gather around and devise a plan to play at all the casinos in the Ottawa and Quebec area.
First, they begin with the casinos in Quebec, but the first casino they enter discovers them and attempts to bring them all into a room to talk. Hoping that the operators in the Ottawa region have not been informed about their operation, the trio quickly moves there. After the first night, however, Elyse discovers that Scott had lost $20,000.
In reaction to this event, George instantly returns to the casino and attempts to make the team money. However, after a few long hours around the tables, George is apprehended by the casino management and gets in a fight with them because he rejects giving up the money he made.
The team buys their way into a secret game, getting ever more desperate to hit the $500,000 mark. Shortly after they make it there, they notice that their card counting skills will not work. The tension is rising, but we will have to end our The Last Casino summary here.
As we said in the beginning, we just want to give you an overall idea of what the movie is about without spoiling all the fun. Anyhow, let us move to the next section of The Last Casino review, where we will see what the critics think about the movie.
The Film Critics – What Did They Say?
You might be surprised to hear that The Last Casino did not receive a lot of attention from professional critics. In fact, if you visit the film’s Rotten Tomatoes page, you will notice that there hasn’t been a single review by a critic. Despite that, The Last Casino’s audience seems to be way more active and has submitted more than 250 reviews with an overall Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 62%.
If we look at The Last Casino’s IMDB, the situation is even worse. There are slightly more than 15 user reviews and just a single submitted critique by an expert. Even so, more than 1500 IMDB users have shared their opinion of the movie by rating it. After weighing the votes, The Last Casino movie has received a user rating of 7.1, which is quite a decent number.
Some of the most popular user reviews have been deeply impressed with The Last Casino movie’s story and its precise execution. One reviewer goes into further detail and states that when watching the movie, one could tell that the writer Steven Westren had put a lot of thought into his screenplay. In fact, his movie is often compared to Тhe 21 movie, in terms of style, camerawork, and storytelling.
Some had outlined that the writer had created original characters, including those with minor parts. However, the protagonists of The Last Casino (the team of card counters), really feel like actual people. The reviewers highlight that the card counter team is played and written so well that the viewer could absolutely believe that those are real students trying to better an actual casino.
Of course, there has been some negative feedback too. Some have argued that a lot of The Last Casino movie is annoying. They outline that some aspects of the movie, including the premise, casino security, and motivation, seem unrealistic.
Multiple critics agree that the worst part is where the casino staff openly laughs once the characters are playing blackjack and lose. The reviewers argue that this is completely unbelievable, as Canadian operators wouldn’t do that. The same goes for any of the top British roulette sites or brick-and-mortar facilities.
The Last Casino Movie Cast, Ratings, and More
This section of our review will talk about The Last Casino cast, production, ratings, and more interesting details. First, let us begin by saying that The Last Casino film is a 2004 French-language Canadian drama film was written by Steven Westren, and directed by Pierre Gill. Also, the production company is Astral Films, and the distributor is The Movie Network.
The Last Casino cast consists of actors such as Charles Martin Smith, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, Julian Richings, and Albert Chung. That said, in the table below, you can find more additional information about The Last Casino production:
| 🏷️ Name: | The Last Casino |
| 📅 Release Date: | June 26, 2004, Canada |
| 📽️ Genre: | Comedy, Drama |
| 🎬 Director: | Pierre Gill |
| 📝 Writers: | Steven Westren |
| ✔️ Executive Producer: | Greg Dummett, Lorraine Richard, Madeleine Henri |
| ⭐ Stars: | Charles Martin Smith, Katharine Isabelle, Kris lemche, Julian Richings, Albert Chung |
| 🎞️ Runtime: | 92 Minutes |
| 🍿 IMDB: | 7.1/10 |
| 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes: | 62% |
Before we move on to the next section, we wish to point out that The Last Casino movie’s runtime is 92 minutes. Compared to other standalone movies, such length of the film is quite standard.
Where to Watch The Last Casino Online
In this part of The Last Casino review, we discuss the available platforms where you can watch the gambling film. As the 2004 French-language Canadian drama film did not gain much popularity, it remained as a rather niche gambling movie. Because of that, you will not be able to find it on many online streaming services. We did some research concerning where to watch The Last Casino movie online, and here is what we found:
Of course, there are other ways to watch The Last Casino legally. For example, if you are lucky enough, you could catch it at a retro cinema, which projects old movies. Apart from that, you could also look for a second-hand hard DVD copy or ask for it at a movie store. Finally, you could simply open Netflix and go for a similar film, such as The Card Counter movie.
Gambling Activities in The Last Casino Movie
Throughout The Last Casino movie, the protagonists enter multiple times into different brick-and-mortar casinos. Naturally, to provide immersion, the camera wanders around the gaming areas on several occasions. During those scenes, viewers can briefly see people playing poker, slot machines, roulette, and others.
Since the main plot of The Last Casino movie revolves around Doug Barnes and the student team implementing the counting cards technique, it is no wonder that the game of blackjack takes the main focus in the production, out of all gambling games. As the movie progresses, we are introduced to more and more of the rules of blackjack.
The Real Story Behind The Last Casino
As we briefly mentioned earlier in The Last Casino review, the movie’s main plot is based on the MIT Blackjack Team. The unique story began in 1979 when six MIT students and residents of the Burton-Conner House at MIT taught themselves how to count cards. Subsequently, they travelled to Atlantic City during the university spring break. There, they implemented their technique and earned a fortune.
Most of them graduated during the same year and went their separate ways. In fact, the majority of the first MIT Blackjack Team never gambled again. Some maintained an avid interest in card counting and remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two of them even offered a course on blackjack at MIT.
Not long after J.P. Massar and Jonathan began leading the gambling course at MIT, a professional blackjack player, Dave, reached them. He proposed to them the forming of a new team that would go to Atlantic City and take advantage of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission’s recent ruling that made it illegal for Atlantic City casinos to ban card counters.
A group of four students, the professional gambler and an investor was formed, and they went to Atlantic City. The story of the real MIT Blackjack Team carries on, but you can already see Steven Westren’s inspiration. We highly suggest looking up the rest of the real story as it is quite an interesting one.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Last Casino
And so, The Last Casino review has to come to an end. What better way to “play our final hand” than to present you with one last section dedicated to the most frequently asked questions regarding the movie. Here, we will present you with some of the most common queries and answer them.
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