Instead, we get a succession of cliches about poker faces, professional poker being work, money is just a way of keeping score, a chip and a chair. Great poker scenes might have saved the film. Since we know he eventually will play for the title no matter what, all of the foreplay is more annoying than intriguing. The first 90 minutes of the two-hour film show him winning, then losing - over and over again - the $10,000 he needs to enter the 2003 WSOP main event. He isn't portrayed as a degenerate exactly, but we've all heard stories about poker players who'll do anything - including lie, cheat and steal - just to stay in the game. I suppose the most believable part of the movie is Huck's weakness as a compulsive gambler. The casino renovated its poker room in 2004 during filming, so Warner Brothers acquired the fixtures and replicated the famous room on a sound stage in California for the 'big cash game' scenes. So does Drew Barrymore as Billie, a lounge singer who hooks up with Huck despite plenty of warnings and misgivings.Īlso, the moviemakers got lucky with the Bellagio sequences. The vistas and bright lights of Las Vegas always look good on film. Huck's big scene with each amounts to him calling their all-in bluff. John Hennigan and Jennifer Harmon get a little camera time playing actual hands against Huck, portrayed by Eric Bana, but not nearly enough to inject much poker excitement into the film. Even the great Doyle Brunson is limited to a few frames showing him busting out of the World Series and walking away. But all you see of Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, Sammy Farha and a bunch of other top players is a glimpse of them sitting at the tables.

About 20 of the biggest names in poker had roles in the film, sort of.

If such a film played its cards right, you could toss in a love story, some Las Vegas seediness and a few Hollywood theatrics - and still have a compelling poker story. That's too bad, because poker fans and most moviegoers would enjoy a film that truly captures the intensity and drama of playing in a World Series main event. A good player can rebound from adversity. There's a line in the new movie 'Lucky You' where our hero, Huck Cheever, says the 'worst thing' that can happen to a poker player is when he 'loses his nerve.'Įven if you think that's true, it's not as bad as the filmmakers having the nerve to produce such a lame flick, then hype it for more than a year as something special.

Lucky you poker movie