Rounders

At the beginning of John Dahl's Rounders, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) describes a "grinder" as someone who just plugs away at small bets, never goes for the big score, and does a little better than break even. That's not a bad description of the movie, either. Played by Damon in his already trademark nice-kid mode that at times comes close to his character in The Rainmaker, Mike is a professional gambler turned law student who blows all his money, tuition included, on one bet in a card game with neighborhood Russian mobster "KGB" (John Malkovich, utterly out of control, sporting a Boris Badenov accent and an Oreo cookie fetish). Under the watchful eye of his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol, serving here as a simple nag), he quits the game -- until he's lured back in by his pal Worm (a wormy Ed Norton), who's fresh out of prison with a passel of bad debts. Although the gamblers' patois sounds hip ("rounders" = professional gamblers) and Norton and Damon spark some catchy badinage, the film has no momentum or heart -- Damon might as well have stamp collecting as a hobby for all the conviction he brings to his compulsion. For a portrayal of the dark desperation of the gambling addiction, rent Robert Altman's California Split. Rounders plays like a unfilled straight. This film screens Thursday, September 10 as part of the festival before its regular opening on Friday, September 11.

-- Peter Keough

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Film Festival Feature Films

| With Friends like These | Digging to China | Monument Ave. | Rounders | Lolita | God Said, 'Ha!' | My Son the Fanatic | The Mighty | Shattered Image | Gods and Monsters | Xui Xui: The Sent-Down Girl | Without Limits | Clubland | The Inheritors | The Celebration | Urban Ghost Story | The Boys | Living Out Loud | Stuart Bliss | The General | The Kindness of Strangers | Dancing at Lughnasa | Central Station | The Human Race | Double You Street | Oberwasser -- By U-boat to America | The Witman Boys | The Cruise | Confession of a Sexist Pig | Melting Pot |

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More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

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