X
- 2022
- Not Rated
- Screen Media Films
- 1 h 34 m
- 2022
- Not Rated
- Screen Media Films
- 1 h 34 m
Summary A yearly high-stakes poker game between childhood friends turns into chaos when the tech billionaire host (Russell Crowe) unveils an elaborate scheme to seek revenge for the ways they've betrayed him over the years. But as his plans unfold, a group of thieves hatch plans of their own breaking into the mansion thinking it is empty. The ol...
Directed By: Russell Crowe
Written By: Stephen M. Coates
- 2022
- Not Rated
- Screen Media Films
- 1 h 34 m
- 2022
- Not Rated
- Screen Media Films
- 1 h 34 m
Poker Face
43
5.2
Where to Watch
Summary A yearly high-stakes poker game between childhood friends turns into chaos when the tech billionaire host (Russell Crowe) unveils an elaborate scheme to seek revenge for the ways they've betrayed him over the years. But as his plans unfold, a group of thieves hatch plans of their own breaking into the mansion thinking it is empty. The ol...
Directed By: Russell Crowe
Written By: Stephen M. Coates
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
43
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
80% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
20% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
43
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
80% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
20% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
When the entire theme is about misdirection, then yes, assessing how enjoyable the swerves and bluffs are, both narratively and conceptually, feels entirely appropriate. And they all too often feel like letdowns.
Poker Face has a lean, cool look, and there are some effective dramatic moments, mostly due to the weight-of-the-old weariness in Crowe’s powerful performance. Unfortunately, Paul Tassone’s over-the-top theatrics as the main villain border on the cartoonish, as the psychological gamesmanship gives way to standard action movie stuff, and the cards and the chips have long been forgotten.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 User Ratings
5.2
15% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
69% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
15% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 User Ratings
5.2
15% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
69% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
15% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
IN A NUTSHELL:
Tech billionaire and gambler Jake Foley (Crowe) hosts a high-stakes poker game between childhood friends, offering them the chance to win more money than they’ve ever dreamed of. The evening takes a turn when he unveils his elaborate plan seeking revenge for their betrayals and to play, they’ll have to give up the one thing they’ve spent their lives trying to keep…their secrets. As the game unfolds, thieves break in and they must band together to survive a night of terror.
THINGS I LIKED:
Academy Award winner Russell Crowe is all in for this movie. He co-wrote the screenplay, directed the film, and stars in it.
The talented cast gives solid performances and includes Liam Hemsworth, RZA, Lynn Gilmartin, and more.
Liam has gained some weight and looks more like his famous brother than ever. In real life, the beautiful Elsa Pataky is married to Liam Hemsworth’s hunky brother, Chris Hemsworth, Thor himself! I love how Elsa’s character in this movie doesn’t hesitate for a second to try to kick bad-guy butt.
Some beautiful cinematography. We get to visit lovely Australia in the movie.
You might recognize the beautiful house that’s featured in the movie. It was also used for the film The Invisible Man. I’d love to travel the world as a location scout for movie studios!
There is some great wisdom shared in Act 3.
I loved how the ending tied in with a random moment from Act 1, as well as the title.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
Act 1 is very slow-moving. A lot of the movie is kind of a snoozer. The most interesting action doesn’t take place until Act 3 in the last 20 minutes.
There’s a green screen moment that looked super fake.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Kids will be bored. So will some adults.
Lots of profanity, including F-bombs
Some crude conversations
A man experiences a drug-induced hallucination.
We see a woman’s naked backside.
We see dead, bloodied bodies
Guns
Someone drugs other people
Hand-to-hand combat and other violence
Alcohol and smoking various substances
Report
This Australia-shot mix of intrigue, soap opera, thriller and tearjerker never quite gels, despite enough surface gloss and cast expertise to hold attention.
Even if you can sense the fun Crowe is having with the camera setups in certain scenes, Poker Face is simultaneously a lot and not all that much.
Poker Face constantly tries to raise the bet and bring new elements to the table, but you quickly realize it’s all a bluff. It doesn’t know how to build tension and anticipation and does no effort to work on its characters. It also doesn’t know how to convey a thrilling poker game, and after stumbling through completely disposable plot points, it tries to wrap its story up with life lessons that are as generic as the movie itself.
The shifts in tone, stakes and genre are abrupt and so clumsily-handled you’re allowed to wonder “What just happened?” And the heist is such a non-starter as to leave one at a loss as to what the Oscar winning actor, one of my favorites, ever saw in this.
The sparse action scenes are useless jumbles, tossing bodies in misblocked blurs of messy motion—like a human game of 52-card pickup—or encased in total darkness. If we can’t see anything, this gamble suggests, maybe we won’t think that what we see is bad.
Once upon a time, Russell Crowe was synonymous with quality. Perhaps he got tired of taking part in more serious projects and moved on to extremely forgettable roles.
With the exception of The Nice Guys and Boy Erased, I have a hard time remembering any of his movies since Noah.
Now, in Poker Face, as he did with The Water Diviner - His directorial debut - he once again lets himself be the star, but this time he delivers an extremely mediocre movie in which you can see that he enjoyed himself, with is friend, only that he forgot that the audience should enjoy themselves, too.
Report
(Mauro Lanari)
The first 10 minutes are an explosion of hallucinated creativity, after which the screenplay explodes, the director exchanges the pastiche of genres with their mess and from the poker itself onwards one no longer understands anything except for a vague atmosphere and epilogue with a Muccinian tone: not really a compliment.
Report
Production Company
Sky,
MEP Capital,
Alceon Entertainment Partners,
Arclight Films,
Hamilton Entertainment,
JBH Entertainment,
Future Artists Entertainment,
Fear of God Films,
Catchlight Studios
Release Date Nov 16, 2022
Duration 1 h 34 m
Rating Not Rated
Tagline Everyone has a limit.
