Summary:
After a psychiatrist/bestselling author comes to the aid of one of her clients, a compulsive gambler, she finds herself led by a smooth-talking grifter into the world of con men.
My Thoughts:
Recently I watched “Glengarry Glen Ross” for the first time, and I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it, even though it felt more like a play than it did a film. The thing that stuck out most to me about “Glengarry” was the writing; it was sharp, snappy, quick, intelligent, and it had something it wanted to say. The writer of the film, David Mamet, intrigued me; and while I was aware of the name, I was rather unfamiliar with his works. So when this film popped up on Amazon Prime a few days ago, and when I saw Mamet’s name buried in the film’s description, I immediately stopped and decided to give this a go.
“Oh you’re a bad pony, and I’m not gonna bet on you.”
After Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse, “The Indian in the Cupboard”), a famous psychiatrist and best selling author, comes to the aid of one of her clients, a compulsive gambler, she finds herself face to face with Mike (Joe Mantegna, “The Godfather Part III”), a gambler and con man. After a brief incident, Mike intrigues Margaret, and the two start to form a strange partnership.
The best part about this film, much like the best part of “Glengarry”, was the writing. This movie knows how to constantly raise the stakes, and it does it in a way that feels like we’re almost always recovering from getting the carpet yanked out from under us. This movie feels like one gut punch after another, one twist after another. I felt, much like I’m sure Margaret felt, that I needed to pay attention continuously so that I wouldn’t miss anything. In fact, I loved everything about the way this story was told. I thought the characters were duplicitous and shady, and watching them try to figure each other out was an absolute blast, but I also thought the unfolding of the story was handled incredibly deftly. We are given time to appreciate the constant twists and settle into what seems to be a new normal, before once again the rug is yanked out from under us.
The worst part of this movie is the acting. Now, I’ve never really thought Joe Mantegna was a great actor, but I never really thought of him as a bad one either. I don’t believe I remember seeing Lindsay Crouse act in anything before, but I felt the same way about her acting: she’s not terrible, but she’s not particularly great. Throughout the film, I felt as if each of the two leads had a few shining moments and each of them had a few pretty cringe-inducing moment. Overall the acting felt pretty uneven, and honestly, had the writing not been as good as it was, this film easily could’ve been knocked down to a 3/5 star film for me.
Verdict:
Overall I was really impressed with this. Again, everything I loved about this movie can be traced back to the writing. I’m already looking for my next David Mamet film to watch, because if most of his films are on par with “Glengarry” and this, then I think I’ve found a writer I really vibe with.
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