Cold Deck

Stéfano Gallo (Bobby) plays a down and out gambler and Kjartan Hewitt (Ben) his partner in crime always hoping for the big money. As in all gambling ventures, the house always wins, these two try to play into the high rollers and lose badly every time until and old buddy of Bobby's father sets up a heist to get all the money they need (for the time being, thing is, you never have enough as a gambler no matter how much you ever win). Lots of gambling table poker action, a big twist after the heist, and another at the end. You'd think Bobby who has a knockout girlfriend (Jessica Sipos, Kim) would just get a decent job and live life. A good watch, some violence, no gore, lots of foul language, nothing questionable, The players look like stereotype gamblers from old Vegas style movies. An OK watch, would see this again. Enjoy!

Watching this movie kept me glued to the screen from start to finish. The characters were very well constructed and the dialog really strong. The cast were well chosen, the story interesting and I particularly like the focus into the dangers of gambling. Very well directed productions of simple tales make very easy watching. This is one of them.

Honestly I was really expecting at least something decent from the initial ratings and the various comments/reviews that I read through here, but probably they were just the effort of the relatives of the actors that participated, cause I really don't understand how would someone express praise for such flat movie, with uninspiring typical plot full of naivety and such mediocre performances. There's really nothing worthwhile in it, something that would make it stand out of the countless other movies with similar theme, not even the abs of the protagonist that would had surely dazzled every female adolescent out there, thus explaining the high rating.The scenario was full of holes and everything, from the production to the directing and the dialogue, seemed poorly made, while the acting was far from adequate.

3/10 and that because I'm feeling generous.

Picked up this DVD at the 99cent store surprise impulse buy; This film to me had a certain charm and maverick independent film spirit to it; I loved the nuance and use of cutaways of city materials like simple poles and banisters as we set up for the scene; nice touches that you'll know what i'm talking about when you see it. Well casted & Impressive performances overall and all around; (w one obvious known figure in Paul Sorvino) Excellent location and post sound mix.

I enjoyed it and am a little surprised to see the number of negative reviews. It's a kool indie flick definitely worth stumbling upon.

(the poker scenes felt fresh to me; it wasn't like re-watching john malkovich play matt damon in rounders; there's some fresh angles here).

A movie about poker which is not actually about poker. With a lead that is a brilliant poker player -- only he's not. This film wants to do everything, while succeeding at nearly nothing. The writing is mostly flaws, clichés and fraudulent ambitions. It's all there: the handsome lead, the pretty damsel, the goofy friend, the go-crazy villain with his trademark axe-musket (?), and a plot which tricks you into thinking is about cards, while it's all about plot holes, bad dialogues, scenes we've seen a thousand times before and, mainly, plot gimmicks failing at the start line.

If this movie contains even a hint of authenticity, it's because of Paul Sorvino and Robert Knepper. Given the script they had to work with, they did the best they had.