The movie Rounders, starring Matt Damon was released in September, 1998 in North America and had very high ratings from the critics (7.3/10) in the movie chronicles.
Written by the renowned David Levien and Brian Koppelman, it was directed by John Dahl. The Rounder is a drama depicting boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, card game, loan sharks, courtroom scenes, golf practice, gambling, poker, mafia, prison etc.
It is credited with winning an SEFCA award in 1999 for Best Actor award going to Edward Norton who portrayed the role of Lester Worm Murphy and a nomination for Matt Damon in 1998. The main plot of the movie Rounder is that of a young man (Mike Dermott) plays the role of a Gambler who is reformed and is trying to return to Poker game by taking on big stakes only to help one of his best friends liquidate his loans.
The movie gives out a kind of message that one has to play his cards that he is dealt. One has to trust everyone but always has to cut the cards. That to allow the sucker to keep the winning is immoral. The other prominent artists in the movie-Rounder are Paul Cicero as Russian Thug: John Malkovich as Teddy KGB: Martin Landau as Abe petrovsky and so on. The most compelling aspect of Rounder is the projection of interpersonal relationships in the film that can make anyone be moved. The game of Poker is so well introduced in the film that even an unfamiliar person with the game, is fully made aware of the features of the game, while getting entertained throughout the length of the movie. Several other games like Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo, 7 card stud and Texas Hold Em are neatly presented to the viewers. A special edition of DVD was made of the movie Rounders in comparison with the top movies like Helmut, Johnny Chan, Chris Jesus Ferguson etc.. One cannot but be awed by the characters played by Matt Damon, Ed Norton, MalKovich, Turturro and Laundau. Malkovich excelled in the role of Russian KGB particularly as a master poker player, he relieves Mike Dermott (Damon) of his Bankrolls by hitting a full house on 4th Street crippling smaller boat of Mike.
The movie-Rounder goes under heavy gripping scenes when the viewers cannot see what Teddy KGB held in hand in the game. But there is a consensus that Teddy has in possession Pocket Aces which was indicated in many ways like: The way he bet all through the hand: the manner in which he pushes all his chips once the Ace appears: the way he reacts when le lost the Hand: the sarcasm he shows to Mike on the Ace Appearing. The movie with 121 minutes runtime has Dolby Digital sound mix and was filmed in Atlanta City, New Jersey, New York City: Newark, New Jersey, Siwanoy Country Club, and Bronxville with an estimated budget of $12,000,000. The opening weekend itself netted $8,459,126 in USA on 2176 screens.
