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All bets are off for Poker Face

Poker Face is screening now in select cinemas.

Poker Face (R13, 94 mins) Directed by Russell Crowe Reviewed by James Croot ★★

The artist formerly known as Russ Le Roq’s return behind the camera for the first time since 2014’s The Water Diviner feels shallow and deeply disappointing.

Sure, he has managed to pull together an impressive cast that includes Liam Hemsworth, Jack Thompson, Aden Young, Steve Bastoni, RZA, Daniel MacPherson and a trio of super cars, but then he wastes all that talent on a sub-par

Guy Ritchie-esque thriller that never really gets out of second gear.

And we’re not even talking Lock, Stock or RocknRolla homage here. Crowe and co-writer Stephen M Coates’ inspiration appears to be 2005’s muchmaligned Revolver. Like that film, this features plenty of pontificating, navel-gazing (‘‘life is a game of karma, luck and physics’’, a voiceover informs us towards the end), regrets, recriminations and a rap star.

Crowe is 57-year-old tech millionaire and gambler Jake Foley. Worried that life and circumstance are pulling apart the quintet of ‘‘inseparable mates’’ he has known since their teenage years, he decides to gather everyone together for a weekend at his coastal pad.

But even as they are offered

$5 million in chips for a special edition of their traditional Texas Hold’Em poker match, it is clear each of them this time is bringing something else to the table. Michael (Hemsworth) is down on his luck and drinking a bottle of vodka a day, writer Alex (Young) has been having an affair, politician Paul (Bastoni) is being blackmailed, and Drew (RZA) is simply late.

As for Jake, he has something he needs to share with the group, but not before giving them all ‘‘a big experience’’ and ‘‘f...ing with their heads’’.

How this got a cinema release – and at the same time as the similarly themed and vastly superior The Menu and Glass Onion – is a little beyond me. Poker Face screams direct-tostreaming-service with its predictable plotting, onedimensional characters and chickens-coming-home-to-roost-allon-one-night conceit.

The once charismatic Crowe now seems destined to follow Mel Gibson and Liam Neeson into a succession of ‘‘B-grade angry man’’ roles, if this and 2020’s Unhinged are anything to go by.

At best, Poker Face will remind blokes of a certain vintage that they should regularly check on their mates. At worst, it feels like a vanity project for Crowe, playing a successful businessman whose mere visage inspires a woman to approach him in an art gallery and suggest she would like to paint his portrait for one of Australia’s most prestigious art prizes.

If you see only one movie about a vainglorious tech mogul and his state-of-the-art mansion, make sure it features Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc.

Entertainment

en-nz

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282316799061872

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