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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you like movies that move at the speed of a tired snail, maybe. If you want something with actual stakes or a plot that makes sense, keep walking. This is for people who enjoy watching actors stand in rooms and talk about money while wearing hats that look too heavy for their heads. 🎩
The whole thing feels like it’s trying to be sophisticated, but it mostly just feels like a stage play that got lost on the way to a theater. It’s light, sure, but it’s the kind of light that gives you a headache.
Our captain is a man who clearly has zero business being in a casino. He has that look of a guy who thinks his luck is about to turn, right before the house takes everything. It’s a bit sad, honestly.
Then he meets the Queen. I’m not sure what she’s doing hanging around with a guy who smells like saltwater and desperation, but hey, that’s cinema. Their chemistry is basically non-existent. It’s like watching two people wait for a bus in the rain.
It reminds me a bit of High Stakes, but without the fun bits. Or maybe it’s closer to Dumb Luck, except here the luck is mostly just boring. It doesn't have the grit of Chicago After Midnight, which I suppose is the point, but it lacks any real spark.
There is this one moment where the camera lingers on a spinning roulette wheel for way, way too long. I think the editor might have fallen asleep at the desk. I checked my watch twice. It was still spinning.
I didn't hate it, exactly. It just sort of happened to me. You could leave the room for ten minutes to make a sandwich, come back, and you’d have missed absolutely nothing of importance. Maybe that’s a win? 🥪
It’s not a disaster. It’s just… there. Like a piece of furniture you don't really like but can't be bothered to move.
