I was surprised to find Rounders taking a different turn. This is a film, for once, that is less interested in screenwriting formulas than in the love of the game. Rounders contains many, many hands of poker. Fortunes rise and fall before our eyes. The people who don't get it will no doubt think this is a movie about a bunch of cards.
Real poker is a game of psychological insight and careful examinations of others.
And professional poker players know more about human nature and habits than the finest psychiatrists in the world. I was absorbed into Rounders from the very beginning, watching the games and the people who play them. I was simply unable to take my eyes off the screen. But no, this is neither a sports movie nor a triumph of the will story. Anyone who knows that feeling when the cards are dealt and the chips clink together and the narrowed eyes start sweeping the table and scanning the other faces, will find Rounders one of the most exciting and intriguing films of the year.