[rbnn]

The movie did a good job capturing the texture of play at the Bellagio and the feel of Las Vegas, especially by comparison with other movies.

The movie did only three things wrong, but those three things ruined it.

First, it cast Eric Bana in the lead as a poker professional. His acting was inept throughout, but his attempts to play poker were especially laughable (e.g. his "poker face" and his "staredowns"). It's not like Bana is a good actor, so it's a mystery to me why he was cast.

Second, the movie contains probably 45 minutes of turgidly sophomoric discussion on how poker is or is not life; on relationships between the main character and his father; and similar inanities. In a good movie like Rounders the themes do not need to be explicitly pounded into the viewers' heads: instead, the characters' actions tell us what we need to know. We should see the main characters' doing things together, not lecturing, pontificating, reminiscing, and mixing metaphors (that's critics' job).

Finally, the ending is ludicrous, making the whole movie seem like a shaggy dog story.

This movie could have been great, with just three changes:
(1) Cast a decent actor in the lead. Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Shia LaBeouf, Johnny Depp - any of these, and probably a hundred others. Once Bana was cast, almost nothing could save the film.

(2) Eliminate the endless philosophizing between the main character and his girlfriend and father. Replace with something happening.

(3) Change the ending.

With these changes: great movie. Without them: hard to watch.