Rounders

(Miramax)

John Dahl's film stars Matt Damon as 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), then quits the game until he's lured back in to save a pal (a wormy Ed Norton). The gamblers' patois sounds hip ("rounders" are professional gamblers), but the film has no momentum or heart, and for all the conviction he brings to his compulsion, Damon might as well have stamp collecting as a hobby.