Terrific movie

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2007)

I thought this movie was quite good. Matthew McConaughey did a great job, as did Al Pacino and Rene Russo, as always. The subject matter was interesting, and not something I had seen before. I also enjoyed the character study of Al Pacino, who was clearly not a recovered gambler after all, he just started gambling with his company and with people, rather than his own personal money.
The father father/son, mentor/protégé aspect was also interesting. You could tell that Jeremy Piven's character had been Al's golden boy at some point.
Many have pointed out a lull in the second act. I didn't feel that at all--quite the contrary I was very tense, especially watching the football games where they had taken the "under" and so had to sweat each point.