Lucky You

FLICK You might be luckier actually playing Texas Hold ‘Em than watching Curtis Hanson’s two-plus hour Vegas movie that uses high-stakes card playing and side bets to represent life lessons. The winning Eric Bana easily carries the drawn out movie as a compulsive, hard-on-his-luck professional card player. No bet goes unplayed, even when it’s with his card-shark father, a cool Robert Duvall. Both actors display the necessary understated emotional tension that make their scenes the ones to watch. But the worst hand dealt is a terribly miscast Drew Barrymore as a lounge singer and Bana’s love interest, who drags down every scene she is in. It’s too bad she wasn’t cast in Jean Smart’s role, a tournament player who never utters a word. Some scenes go on a bit too long even after the message is clear. Unless poker, or staring at hot and handsome seven-card stud Bana is your favorite spectator sport, this could be a gamble you might not want to take. My Score: 6 out of 10.