10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Effective neo-noir, November 18, 2002
Alex Cox, the director, has one of the great 80s cult films to his credit--Repo Man--and while The Winner does not have the same resonance, it is still a solid piece of work.
The strong cast--Rebecca deMornay, Michael Madsen, Billy Bob Thornton, Frank Whaley, Vincent D'Onofrio, Delroy Lindo, and Richard Edson--does an excellent job of playing out their standard neo-noir roles. Yes, there is some measure of formula-typing here, but it is, after all, neo-noir. DeMornay's femme fatale is not a demon (like Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction), but more a nasty vixen who undergoes a change of heart, but, unfortunately, too late. Frank Whaley is terrific as a small-time con man whose motor mouth oozes false schmaltz. Billy Bob Thornton in an uncharacteristic role, sporting a goofy toupee and serving as a henchman for Delroy Lindo's suave Kingman, is a bit on the stiff side, but given his hinted-at affliction, maybe that's understandable. Michael Madsen has one of his many roles as a brute and does the role justice.
And Vincent D'Onofrio is effective as well in the title role. One of the flaws of the film is that it shuttles back and forth between characters so frequently that aside from DeMornay's and Whaley's roles, no one character is developed enough to establish a strong identity.
But the plot is strong and occasionally sparkles with some of the director's characteristic flashes of archetypal-metaphoric wit. A great example is the winking out of all the lights at the end of the film. Cox himself appears briefly as a wacky French choreographer named Gaston, responsible for the dancers's routines at a chintzy Vegas place called, appropriately, the Par-A-Dise.
It's at this place that the title character finds himself most of the time. He's a gambler who never loses--so everybody's after his money. The femme fatale wants him for it. His ex-con brother (Madsen), carrying a mysterious filled-in sleeping bag, needs the winner's money to keep getting by, the way he has been after finally leaving the slammer. The trio of lowlife crooks (Whaley, Edson in one of his well-done 'dopey' roles, and another guy) want the money he creates out of nothing, and Kingman wants to exploit him for it. But the winner is a guy who just does what he does, after almost committing suicide. The winner's mix of innocence and impulsiveness is, for all the brief flashes of this mix that do come through, handled well by D'Onofrio, but as mentioned above, the character is not developed enough for the viewer to feel for him.
It's the plotting, a lot of the snappy dialogue (thanks to writer Wendy Riss) and the director's witty style that make this work as well as it does. Not a great film, but enjoyable and fun.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very well thought-out and well acted dark comedy and adven, December 28, 1998
By A Customer
The viewer content of this film contains sex scenes, acts of maltious violence, and adult language. I enjoyed this film very much, the plot was good, and the acting was good, especially that of Micheal Madsen who played Wolf, The brother of Philip whom can't loose at the casino and who everyone in the story wishes to take advantage of. From a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 9.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Creative and entertaining, September 27, 2002
This movie is very good, but not a masterpiece - which is why I can not give it 5 stars.
The basic plot is very simple. The story is about a gambler that can't lose. He placed his first bet on a Sunday and therefore he always hits the casinos on Sundays - and still can't lose. Around this basic plot other stories start to develop. So the movie is not really about a gambler that can't lose, but rather about human nature, greed and relationships. Do you think your life would change if you simply could not lose in a casino? Of course it would, and so does this guy's life; surrounded by new "friends" and enemies.
The movie has a good basic structure, a good concept, a few unexpected twists, good dark humor and a good ending. Above all it does not fall into a ready-made mold of modern Hollywood movies and for the simple fact that it is creative and different (and good) it is worth your time. And if you happen to be a collector you should not regret adding this one to your collection.
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