The 90s was a great decade for crime movies, yet nobody seemed to give a fuck about them. Several classic titles such as NEW JACK CITY, SURVIVING THE GAME and GUNMEN only found success in video stores. What was the rage in theaters back then? No idea. I grew up in a town without one, but with a sprawling video store that held all the best (and the worst) kept secret movies in cinema. I'm trying to make excuses about the fact that I never saw ROUNDERS before 2014, but I don't have one. It didn't exactly jump from the shelf back then. Not to a teenager who doesn't give a damn about Matt Damon's jawline. Of course, that was a stupid mistake I took 16 years to correct. ROUNDERS is a solid, low-key 90s crime drama.
Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) is a law-student with card playing dreams. He wants to become a rounder, a professional player at the Mirage, in Las Vegas. Mike ends up betting his entire bankroll in a game against local mobster Teddy KGB (John Malkovich) and witnesses his dreams going down the toilet on a single playing hand. He swears off card and starts doing grunt work for a fellow rounder named Joey Kanish (John ''Jesus Quintana'' Turturro). It's not before Mike's old friend Worm (Edward Norton) gets out of prison and in trouble again that he gets the urge of playing cards. It's both nature and necessity calling Mike, but it might very well cost him everything he has.
ROUNDERS ain't exactly a visual statement. It's a movie lead by a strong screenplay and fast, uninterrupted narrative flow. Mike McDermott's dilemma is the following: should he pursue what he truly desires or what a smart, ambitious young man should logically want? There is a little bit of symbolism involved here, represented by the duality between Mike's blonde, pure and stern lawyer girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol) and his Lokiesque, dark-haired friend Worm, who believes Mike is setting himself up to become miserable and bitter with this law gig. Martin Landau has a small, support role in ROUNDERS, as a judge who is the older reflection of Mike, if he chooses law over cards. There is a Dostoevskian quality to David Levien and Brian Koppelman's screenplay, in that regard.
In ROUNDERS, John Malkovich shows that he can best everybody. Even when playing a racial stereotype.
The visual philosophy of ROUNDERS may be unadorned, but there were small, quirky details that caught my attention and made the experience so much more immersive to me. For example, when Mike plays Teddy KGB, there is always sport on television. Betting sports. First boxing and then soccer. Almost insignificant, but it adds to the late night/interloper atmosphere of Teddy's place. When Mike and Worm travel to Binghampton for a card game, the lgihting is all black and orange, which is typical to small town area where lampposts are the only beacon in the night and shine and otherworldly light on familiar things. It made them feel far from home. ROUNDERS focuses on its screenplay and on strong actors' performances, but small, accurate details like these I just mentioned made it more flavourful, more whole. Few movies are as detail-oriented as ROUNDERS is.
Quiet, fuel efficient productions rarely get the spotlight they deserve, but moviegoers always give them their due. ROUNDERS was written, shot and distributed with the intention of making the best possible movie, not to sell explosions, romance or whatever it is that producers sell to masses of people. That purity of intent must be respected and carried through time by moviegoers. ROUNDERS has a strong, original screenplay, gets the best out of its performers and has a bit of an atmosphere going on. I wouldn't say it's going to be remembered in 100 years from now, but it should have a place in any crime lover's movie collection. Sometimes, standing out doesn't matter as much as doing things properly. ROUNDERS will never jump from the shelf, but you should reach for it.
Quiet, fuel efficient productions rarely get the spotlight they deserve, but moviegoers always give them their due. ROUNDERS was written, shot and distributed with the intention of making the best possible movie, not to sell explosions, romance or whatever it is that producers sell to masses of people. That purity of intent must be respected and carried through time by moviegoers. ROUNDERS has a strong, original screenplay, gets the best out of its performers and has a bit of an atmosphere going on. I wouldn't say it's going to be remembered in 100 years from now, but it should have a place in any crime lover's movie collection. Sometimes, standing out doesn't matter as much as doing things properly. ROUNDERS will never jump from the shelf, but you should reach for it.