An average movie

Since this movie didn't get much love after its release, I didn't expect much but since I have a weak spot for Stephen Frears's work and since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it definitely turned out to be pretty weak, in fact, I'm pretty sure it is the weakest movie I have seen from Frears so far. I mean, it was basically one of these movies starting with a very lame introduction and, after the first 5 minutes, I already knew the whole thing was pretty much hopeless. In fact, I do believe that gambling is a fascinating subject but, for one thing, they completely messed up the tone. Basically, they went for some kind of manic quirky comedy which was just completely misguided. Seriously, if you would believe this movie, in case you would lose 10 thousands of dollars with a bad gamble, you shouldn't need to worry as nobody will come up to break your fingers if you don't pay. Instead, your bookie will provide you with a plan to pay up your debts or, even worse, will help you to make an ever bigger gamble to cover your debts (both things actually happened during this movie ). I felt above all sad for the charming and seemingly talented Rebecca Hall who, for once, had the opportunity to play the lead but it turned out to be some rather clueless stripper version of Erin Brockovich. On top of that, her character was just so poorly written,  she somehow completely changed after she was (rightfully) fired for flirting with her married boss. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating here,  the damned thing was a just really weak comedy and I don't think it is worth a look.

5/10