Customer Reviews

All In

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Except for Mike Madsen and Lou Gossett, the acting was terrible, and the plot ridiculous. Only worth watching if your cable has been out for a week and you have been diagnosed with cancer and it is the only movie on the shelf at Blockbuster.

Having recently developed an interest in Poker, I have started watching a few movies about the game. Seeing that it "starred" Michael Madsen and Louis Gossett, Jr. gave me some hope for the film, but I was soon to learn that these actors are more supporting players (almost cameo) rather than featured performers. Dominique Swain stars as "Ace" the daughter of a professional gambler who tries to pay her way through med school by playing Texas Hold 'Em. To me, the biggest flaw of the movie is the part set in the learning hospital. The acting and storyline are so over the top that it is very hard to take seriously, despite a very dark subject matter. If this type of thing was going to be introduced, it needed to be treated more significantly than the Poker games.
And what about those Poker games? The games are very shallow in the movie, but are at least moderately entertaining as "Ace" tries to win a big tournament. If you are a serious student of the game you will not find the sequences authentic, but then the recent spate of poker movies are really just in the vein of most Hollywood sports movies. Holding it to too high of a standard isn't really fair either.

If you like poker movies with catchy one-liners or believable scenarios, keep looking. If you watch movies and play on your laptop, text message and eat, well you might miss everything that i found ALL HOLLYWOOD. The side plot was so poorly intertwined/engaging. The background sets were so cheap, a pathetic classroom set. Acting isn't without lots of training, but the characters were more theatrical, overexaggerating their feelings/tone. I sympathize for the director/writer because you know the producer said "we can't do that...or that," with minimal takes and strict deadlines. The video editors had a chipped shoved up their as...not something they could put on a resume. Conversations are spliced. During a tournament, the players splash the pot during all-in calls, but they have different amounts...what no side pots! A ten thousand dollar buy-in with like ten tables and first place pays five million, who's bad at math? After tens of hours watching CSI with its post mordom discoveries, the switch-a-roo scene, unbareable. There is even a poorly cut scene where one guy checks, then the movie spasms and the main character says raise! And 63off. Again, arrgh! Everything was half-arsed.

The main character sets up an image after learning of everyones tells, then instead of playing off that info she plays a second best hand and draws out. I just wished they sought professional advice on how a hand would actually play out. There are so many possible and believable ways a poker game might play out. Why must bad poker scenes play out so amateurish and all in-ish. All in! call. call. call. Sure!

If you saw it you already, you knew what you were in for. If you are going to see the movie anyways...make sure you see the bonus deleted scenes with the asian friends. This is how the movie should have been written. Hilarious scene "Your betting has fluctuation...F*@k-u-asian?" If you like poker movies, but have only seen Rounders, you can see Lucky You. Despite some cheese, a poker fan can appreciate the various poker/gambling situations and you can actually predict the opponents hands because their was some obvious poker consulting.

Okay, so i obviously can't overlook these ficticious inclusions. I gave two stars then wrote this review and deducted one more. I got into film schools, but was afraid i would work on films like this forever, so i chose not to. Kryptonite is to Superman what this movie is to me.

DVD delivery was good and fast, but it was not original sealed DVD. during the middle of playing, the DVD jammed/stopped, so I have to use 4xforward to pass. overall, it is just ok.

A great idea for a movie (also see [[ASIN:B0002DRDB4 Rounders]). A bunch of poor med students try to put together a "dream team" of card players to help with tuition.

But the execution was extremely poor, and the acting was pretty bad. There was hardly any strategy, and both the "dream team" and the card playing took a back seat to an awful plot development between the main character & her long-lost father.

It's hard to imagine how you can mess up such a simple plot, but they actually managed to make the movie a bit confusing. Card players will definitely be disappointed with this one. Actually, I'm not sure who to recommend this to.

I'm not a card player but I enjoyed this movie. I suppose it is like seeing a movie about a war...in reality the movie would have flaws if you are a combat soldier but to the layman it is entertaining. So it is with this movie. A much better movie than about 75% of the movies out now. IMO

All these gambling based movies have a similar theme but this one was done much better and if you like gambling movies get this one above the others. Many more themes and mild violence and you want to pull for the eventual winner.What more can you ask ? Great acting in this one.

This was a great story and it goes show what parents will do to make sure their kids get an education.