Win It All

(Flash Review)

Step into the life of a gambling addict, Eddie. Eddie makes a pittance now and then and immediately flushes it away. Out of the blue some sketchy guy he knows, presumably from the gambling world, offers him $10K to watch his duffle bag for 6-9 months without opening it, as he is checking into prison for a brief stretch. With zero willpower, he opens the bag and finds rolls of cash and dangerously gambles with it, losing much. Yikes! With positive life options brewing such as steady job and girlfriend will he overcome his addiction and the hole he dug himself? This was a stressful, tightly scoped and lightly tense watch. Good acting with an average story; room for improvement. An enjoyable enough drama.

Really enjoyed this charming bit of film.

There is clear chemistry between the director Joe Swanberg and it's lead Jake Johnson. This is very much a filmmaker who is at the top of his game, working on a loose script, or with improvisation, flawlessly.

There could be a case of a contrived nature to some of the plot but I think the overall feel and structure of the film fits nicely into it's just under 90 minute runtime.

8/10

A lot of people clearly don't, but I love subtle, simple, stripped-down, basically realist stuff like this, and this is an especially good example. The ending in particular, though it could easily appear to be almost nothing if you're not paying attention, is a gem of a thing, and means I'll rewatch. I'd like to gush a bit here about what makes it so special, but I can't do it without spoiling it. It's (almost) all in the word 'dying'.

This movie review can be quite short. The acting is decent and the directing is also pretty good but the part this movie is lacking is a good plot. The movie is not that long but still felt boring at sometimes. I would say this movie fits more into the drama genre but has the ingredients of a thriller while pretending to be a comedy. The plot is way to straight forward and the characters in the movie lack depth. But not everything is negative because if i find a movie bad i'll just turn it off and allthough i thought about it i watched the whole thing. (Good thing the playing time isn't that long.)

I was expecting more of a poker/gambling movie but instead you just watch a pretty normal guy with a mild gambling addiction work himself in to trouble. Then he does what every normal human being would do and he tries to get back in to the sadle of life by living a fairly normal life. It's all pretty straightforward stuff and this movie could use a bit more spice in the plot. The movie is average at best. Lacks the depth for a drama, lacks the plot for a thriller and lacks jokes for a comedy.

The whole movie feels like a flat line which is not what most people are looking for in a movie. If you're just looking for an easy straightforward movie this one suits just fine. If you're however looking for more entertainment and excitement this is not the one. You're probably better of watching a favorite classic over again.

This movie was quite engaging, accurate, Dark, and funny.

The chemistry between Jake and Joe was awesome- not surprising since they roll in the same circle in the tv industry.

To be honest, if you have any experience with a friend or family member with an addiction... this movie kind of hits all the right spots. Keegan was great as well... but Joe lo Truglio truly stole every scene he was in. Very nice display of his range.

Good movie.