"Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker."

A reformed poker player has to go back to playing big stakes to help his friend with his big debts. 

At first I actually thought that Rounders would be silly and maybe naive and I don't know, somehow romanticising the glamour of Vegas. But I was wrong, it wasn't romanticising anything. It wasn't glamorous, and it didn't even take place in Vegas. 

It would be way easier to watch movies like Rounders and Casino Royale, if I knew anything about card games, but I don't. I only know how to play Hearts and Black Jack (or a game like blackjack, but the cards you get aren't hidden), and I don't think I'm very good at either of those, to be honest I keep losing at Hearts when I play against computer, and I think I beat my dad once at Black Jack. I once had Texas Hold 'Em on my phone, but I didn't get the hang of that. And this is why, when in movies someone's hand is revealed, I have no idea if it's good or bad, I can only guess from the reactions of everyone. And I have no idea how well someone won and whatever. I don't know. But still it's interesting to watch a movie where card games are played. It's interesting, and, well, you learn a lot - except how to actually play. I know how you need to pay more attention to the opponents than their possible hand. I don't know, all these movies make me kinda want to play cards.

The atmosphere and colours in Rounders actually reminded me a bit of Fight Club, which was made year later. Rounders however  wasn't such a visual experience as Fight Club, but the colours were well used. 

The story wasn't that good. It's used a lot, how the characters need to get a certain amount of money to pay their debt and then they have to do something really desperate to get the money. It's used in various movies and various episodes of TV shows. Rounders didn't even have any special twists or turns to spice the story up a bit.

However, it was enjoyable to watch. It wasn't too boring, even if it wasn't that thrilling. You don't grow to like the characters, which sometimes is really refreshing, because you don't have to be nervous for them or whatever we usually feel for our favourite characters. Rounders wasn't great, but it was visually neat, and even though the story has been used over and over, the story isn't that bad. It wasn't ruined with, like, useless sub plots. It was alright.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

6/10