I assume a lot of you have read my GOOD WILL HUNTING review, and are familiar with how much I loved that film. Well that was pretty much my introduction to Matt Damon. In that film he portrayed a character that I couldn’t help but associate with, to find commonalties with. So when I heard he had a role as a master poker player in a film by John Dahl, a director that I felt was on an even keel with Van Sant, I figured, “Ok, this is where he takes the character he played in G.W.H. and beats it to death.”
Wrong.
ROUNDERS is not GOOD WILL HUNTING and you should not expect that at all. This is merely the next starring role for Matt Damon, who seems to be smart enough to take films that surround him with talent. I love ensemble actors.
Wait, I didn’t tell you what happened to me on the day I saw this film. EEEEEeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... (That’s the sound of the review breaking!) Nothing whatsoever happened to me the day I saw this flick. I was hanging with Quint, Tom Joad and Father Geek when the call to go see the flick came in. So we all loaded up in the Joad Jalopy and careened over to local secret locale where I see movies months, weeks ahead of time. Usually my spies at Kodak will print up a secret off the record print and ship it to my underground cinemaplex where we may dissect it.
So we sat in the 22 seat auditorium, much like those screening rooms on the Warner lots or the Paramount lots, but sans suits. Before hand we were all talking about John Dahl. Joad had liked everything he made, from Last Seduction to Red Rock West to Unforgettable. Me, I loved the first two, and Quint... well I don’t believe he had seen Dahl’s work.. maybe Unforgettable. As for Father Geek, he agreed with me.
The film is rock solid, all the characters are realized with the exception of the blonde bimbo that’s opposite Damon. All four of us were exclaiming for Damon to dump the baggage. From a (gorilla snort sound here) manly man side of things, there is this sense that if a babe is holding you back, then she is not the babe you were looking for.
A bit of time in this film is spent with Damon wrestling with going with his instincts, doing what he loves, or living the happy normal life with a nice piece of ass. Why the derogatory term? Well, because that’s the way she’s played in this flick. I get no sense of their love or relationship. All I get is here is a gal that seems to have been on track to enslave Mr Damon to be her lap dog. While Damon seems genuinely concerned for her feeling, that feeling is not reciprocated on screen. This is a thing most guys I know hate. The girl that wants you to give up your dream for her, I’ve always felt you should find a partner that shares your dream, and the two of you go on throughout time in pursuit and capture of that dream. But hey, that’s me.
When I started AICN there was this gal, and she couldn’t understand why I was doing this site. She saw no future in it, she only saw her future in me. I told her that my future was tied to the site, that this is what I love doing, what I love pursuing. She couldn’t see it, she saw it as a waste as a childish thing to be put away. Of course this was at the beginning. The site had no press, there was no gigantic following and the rewards were few. But I was adamant that I stay with this, not because I’d be rich or could be rich, but because it felt right. Because it seemed to make others feel right. She had no understanding of the ways of the geek, Forry Ackerman meant nothing to her, and so I chose the site. Any regrets? No.
And that’s the same feeling I would expect from Matt Damon’s character in this and he doesn’t disappoint.
HOWEVER, the main reason to see this film is for Edward Norton. He’s that actor that a lot of people are watching and the reason is he is absolute magic to behold. In this film he is that friend that shares the same dream, but is pursuing it through the backdoor and under the table. “Worm” his name, is dead on. It’s like my friends, each of their names are a dead on description of them. Quint should be food for sharks, Joad is that likable champion for film, Robogeek is the unstoppable unflinching mechanical movie maven, Copernicus is that scientist type, Johnny Wad is Mr Cock Boy, Father Geek is exactly that, and on and on. I don’t have a ‘Worm’ but I have had a ‘worm’ or two in the mix before and he’s always closer to “leech”. He bleeds you and bleed you, but really he good for ya yeahhhhh, he’s thinning your blood, adding years to your life, but really he’s just sucking you dry.
Ed Norton is just exciting. He doesn’t play it to the stereotype, and for a bit he reminds me of that blonde fella from Dawn of the Dead when they’re hot wiring the semis to block off the entrances of the mall. Only Damon never slaps him around and he never gets bitten by the zombie. He’s that guy that lives in his own world and wants you to join him. There’s no need to go that way, and you know it. You try to tell him, but he never listens. He’s stuck in his own purgatory, a world of self-denial, he’s running on a treadmill not getting anywhere in life. You feel like slapping him silly, but you know Damon’s so close to him that he can’t get out of the way of his headlights.
As for the other actors... well with the exception of the blonde bimbo, who I might just not like because I’m not supposed to like her, in which case she’s brilliant, I love them. Malkovich is quite honestly one of my favorite actors working. His character is such a character. The oreo eating Russian poker playing mob boss is just great. Then there is John Turturro, who I just loved in his small part in BIG LEBOWSKI, and here... here he reminds me a bit of the Charles Bronson character in The Magnificent Seven when he’s talking to the little kids about the bravery of their fathers, whom they consider cowards. It’s an obscure parallel, but if you catch it, see it, you’ll get it. Then there is Famke. She’s the girl I really wanted Damon to be with, she’s hot, she’s into the same thing as him and damn if she wouldn’t be the choice I’d make. Of course, my judgment maybe clouded by meeting her on Robert’s set, but then none of the other geeks I was watching this film with met her, and they all felt exactly the same way. Famke was the way to go.
All in all this film is about the directions in life we go, some will say it’s about poker, but really it’s about playing our own life, about deciding what our story is about. Is our story along a path that others decide, or is it between us and a mirror. To me it’s myself and my mirror. Life is about my own talents, lack of talents, loves and pursuits, not about what others think I should be doing, not about settling and most of all it’s not about doing what I’m told to do. If you share this philosophy, if you desire that philosophy, you’ll love the film.
