Rounders (1998)

The straw-colored mane of McDermott (Matt Damon) fills up the screen ala Redford as the players concentrate on the cards during an underground poker game. McDermott thinks he has the KGB guy (John Malkovich) who talks to his Oreo cookies while the others ponder their next move. But McDermott is outmaneuvered even holding such a good hand and loses oodles of dough. His girlfriend lives with him but on the terms that he never go back to that gambling lifestyle and he agrees and tries law school and a night job. He drives to prison to pick up his old friend Worm and is enticed to play one more game, maybe to help Worm get on his feet, maybe to try to see if he still has it. He wins and it hooks him back into the game. Worm owes a bundle of cash from prior to his punishment and locks McDermott into holding it in his name. This was a mistake and now McDermott has to rise above the trying times as once a group of police officers suspect cheating (and Worm did) and a few bruises later he lands at his bachelor pad a bachelor, yes his girl has left him. ROUNDERS deals head on with the negative side of the story. He sits down with his professor (Martin Landau) and has a heart to heart. He is told that sometimes the thing you love isn't popular but in the end it is you, never mind what the world says. He borrows some money and decides to take on Teddy KGB and his delectable cookies once more. I won't spoil the ending but I will tell you they show a kewl scene from World Series Of Poker. [4.1 stars]