9-Ball

I am surprised by the other reviews here. The only reason I kept watching this movie was for hopes of seeing Jennifer, Jeanette or Alison playing pool. Because the acting, story and movie in general were terrible. My wife, who wasn't even watching the movie, was sitting in the other room where she could still hear it. And even she was commenting about how bad the dialog was.

If you are hoping for a movie about pool, then yes you will get that. Unfortunately, you will not see any real play in the movie. You will see shots being made, but no strategy involved whatsoever, even by the stars themselves. You will also see that the APA obviously contributed to the movie given the commercial dialog spoken by the stars.

Perhaps I set my expectations too high. I wanted this to be a good movie as I love pool, and think everyone should try it. I even appreciate the APA and the professionals who contribute to endeavors such as this. But would I recommend this movie? Sadly, no.

...and draw your own conclusions. My conclusion is that the high reviews read like promotional material.

Please note that I have not seen this movie and have chosen my star-rating to not effect the average of the ratings given by others.

This is easily one of the worst movies i've ever seen, and i watched the happening.

A great movie with a laundry list of all star pool players. Anthony Palma made a great pool movie. Jennifer Barreta shines as Gail, a pool hustler that wants to take her game to the pro level. This will no be her last acting role. Kurt Hanover excels as Joey, Gail's not so sweet and innocent uncle. Cameo's by Allison Fisher and Jennette Lee only serve to elevate the movie to an even higher level. The movies tag line is absolutely inspiring:

Her talent made her a winner. Her heart made her a champion.

Bottom line, do not wait, go buy this movie, now! What are you waiting for, stop reading and go buy this movie.

I wanted to like this movie going in. I watched this having seen just about every great movie about pool ever made on the subject. This movie simply isn't one of them.

It's not that the actors aren't trying or were even that bad. Really. It's that their lines are pretty wooden, and the plot is so way thin, it's obvious what will happen next, often before the actors even say it. The flat delivery of their lines only re-enforces this fact.

My real gripe though are actual pool sequences. Few and far between, they lack any kind of imagination or even an interesting camera angle. For example, several shots in the movie are taken, but you have no sense from watching the shot as it takes place, that the ball was actually pocketed. They often just show the actor squaring up and striking the cue ball, then quickly cut away. To a different actor or different scene. You have no sense that the ball goes in or was even close to the pocket.

This has the same effect of a comedian delivering his/her line and then cutting away before the punch line. You end up saying to yourself WTF?

I am hard pressed to come up with any reason to recommend anyone watch this movie. Bottom line if you are looking for even just a fair movie to settle in and watch, you'd be better off to keep searching beyond this title.