Bookies

I really tried to like this film; I wanted it to be a success. But some weak characters kept the film from rising above a kid fantasy movie. It had little relation to real-life college gambling or real-life bookies (both of which I unfortunately became far too familiar with while living in Union CIty in the early 1970s. Galecki was a bit over the top, and one rooted for him to get shot. Stahl, on the other, was a sympathetic character, who was the voice of reason, while Luke Haas was pretty much just a third wheel in the film. The character of Hunter was also underdeveloped and suffered from poor dialog as the romantic interest. David Proval was pretty good as the older bookie, but his partner and strong-arm, Vincent, played by the competent John Diehl, was highly unrealistic as a bookie's arm. Most bookies I knew were loners, who operated on their own without strong-arms. So that device did not work well.

The story line was interesting, but once again, depending on the school (I went to Columbia U, which had no shortage of rich and powerful students with money), the volume of sports betting was just not that heavy. Most bets were between $10-$50, and the idea of a player throwing a game has been done a few times before; most notably in The Gambler, with James Caan. Occasionally, a good business student would go off the deep end and start betting $100s of dollars, but not thousands, and certainly not the amounts mentioned in this film. I would say the film was a good try, but no cigar. Because of the realism factor.

This is what every school going teenager dreams of. i always thought the Netherlands where missing out on a lot. we don't have school campuses here in the Netherlands, i love the idea of living on one over these. Doesn't matter if you see it in the movies or hear from people who studied in the us, the stories always sound amazing. This is one of the amazing examples what teenagers whit an idea and enough balls can accomplish. to bad they had to give it up. and "Rachael Leigh Cook"...what a FOXX!!!!

My Final conclusion; It's a easy to watch, entertaining & exciting story. well played by the actors. Love to see a part 2 on this movie.

Bookies sometimes feels like a tv-movie but that doesn't mean it was a bad movie. It's just not a high budget movie, again nothing wrong with that, but it made it look like it was ready to be aired on television and nothing else. The story isn't bad though, it's easy to watch and the acting was decent. Johnny Galecki finally plays in something else than that dumb show The Big Bang Theory (never got what all the fuss was about with that show), and he did okay. I wouldn't categorize this movie in the comedy genre though. Comedy is supposed to make you laugh and this was clearly not the case in Bookies. It's just easy entertainment, an easy to follow story with an interesting subject of gamblers and bookies.

Johnny Galecki is great in Bookies. His performance is nothing less then stellar. I've seen him before in other things, but always dismissed him as character actor. He shines in Bookies. If this movie had a higher budget, his performance would have garnered him an award. Galecki plays Jude, which is the most developed character in the movie. Also the character I hated. That's probably why I noticed Galecki's excellent performance.

Rachel Lee Cook sadly has the weakest character. Her acting wasn't weak, her character was. Without giving anything away, there is a scene where Stahl tells her he has given up, then she lectures him that he should give up, I'm sorry, didn't he just say he did give up??

The plot gets weak toward the end. You'll need to lend some creative license, but not so much that it enters the "Oh Come ON!" stage.

Good movie, worth the rental, or even purchase it in the bargain bin.

watched this the other day on IFC, pretty interesting movie about college guys trying to make a buck. they set up a bare bones bookmaking system with an illicit way of picking up and dropping off money. as they make more money , they upgrade to computers and the like,, only problem is the mob soon finds out what the young men are up to,, then it starts to get very interesting. not a bad little movie, especially for an independent,, it's a study in bookmaking old school i guess you would say.. everything from writing bets down on a marker board to a massive computer system,, i particularly like the express drop off and pick up at the local library,, taking envelopes full of cash and stuffing them into books that have never ever been checked out,, very sneaky but brilliant also.