Croupier Movie Review

Croupier Movie Review – This is a film that needs to be watched twice to be fully appreciated. It’s also the kind of film that’s hard to review without…

The woman you see above is in it, giving nothing away. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Croupier Movie Review

The movie opens with the title character, Jack Manfred (super-cutely played by Clive Owen), spinning a roulette wheel and talking in voiceover.

Bob Le Flambeur (1956)

Jack has daddy issues and a bad case of ennui when it comes to dealing with the publishing industry. Also he seems to be suffering from writer’s block.

At the suggestion of his father, he takes a job in a casino in London. Here he meets Matt, a young and reckless fellow croupier, who apparently becomes the basis of the protagonist in his novel. A protagonist named Jack. Pretty subtle, huh?

It is also at the casino that Jack meets the jovial Johnny de Villiers (played by the wonderful Alex Kingston). Despite house rules against croupiers consorting with punters, they strike up a friendship. It turns out that they are both originally from South Africa. What are the odds?

Jack’s voiceover narration throughout the story not only adds a neo-noir touch to the film, but underscores his different view of himself from others. As he tells it, we hear the book about Jack being written in Jack’s voice. Nice touch.

Croupier [drama] 1999 Clive Owen Is A Cynical Would Be Author Who Takes A Temporary Gig As A Croupier And, As A Result, Lowers His Opinion Of Humanity Even Further.

Naturally, something is bound to go wrong in this scenario, but to say more would spoil everything. I will say that the movie has a lot more subtlety in its visual subtext as well as dialogue, then I have suggested so far. The plot also comes full circle from the beginning and ends with a twist that is thought-provoking and ironic.

This film should be watched at least twice to fully appreciate all its merits. In fact, if you read the screenplay (click here to download), you might see things you didn’t see while watching it.

This entry was posted in Movie Reviews, Neo-Noir and tagged British Neo-Noir, Movie Reviews, Neo-Noir. Bookmark the permalink says Joseph Attard. A bundle of competing contradictions, Mike Hodges Croppier (1998) is a good film that should be good.

(1998) found life did not have the simplest beginnings. Shunned by the Academy to be televised in Holland, this glib thriller about a struggling writer-turned-casino dealer (Clive Owen) surprised both critics and audiences on first impressions. However, the film eventually had an early champion, the great Roger Ebert, who astutely recognized the film’s greatest strength in a three-star review: “This is not an incredible movie casino,” Ebert reflected, “but a believable portrayal of one of those small London operations.” One where the plush and gilt on the gorilla on the door doesn’t quite cover the stigma.

My Review Of ‘croupier’ (1999)

Not a glamorous film by any stretch of the imagination; It’s an ugly, bad picture – the kind of film that gets stuck under your fingernails. At the same time, it’s also a peppy thriller with a dollop of swagger and a very vague self-assurance.

Admirable for exploring an aspect of casino culture we rarely see on screen: a ‘mid-level’ gambling den, full of cheap tuxedos, a faded blue feel and a general funk of uneasiness.

Jack Manfred is a rugged, unpublished writer who lives with his starry-eyed shop detective girlfriend (Gina Mackie). To pay the bills, he begins moonlighting as a croupier in a medium-sized casino, driving a wedge between himself and his companion who loves him, despite the fact that he only ‘half loves’ her. Disillusioned with his marriage, Jack is gradually drawn by casino life, where he is empowered by his position as an all-powerful overseer of the desperate sleazebags under his charge.

Jack hits it off with Janie (Alex Kingston), a South African beauty who is in deep with the sharks. To help his new confidant, he agrees to take part in a casino heist – to the tune of £10,000 – shedding his smug self-identity as a non-gambler.

Film Review; Born For Gambling, In A Casino And Metaphysically

It suffers from the same problems that plague the neo-noir genre at large. Its noir trappings, and especially the film’s use of voiceover narration, are little more than shallow window-dressing. While voiceover is characteristic of the genre, often providing a much-needed sense of the brooding taciturnity that characterizes its male leads, the voiceover

(1944) – whose narration reveals her character’s inner turmoil after she bumps into her lover’s husband for an insurance windfall – Jack’s voiceover verges on self-parody. Take, for example, a scene where Jack is introduced to a wealthy Chinese punter by his casino manager. “Does he win?” Jack asks. “He’s a very good customer,” the manager replies. “That means he loses a lot,” the voice-over says.

. In isolation, the film’s central metaphor – life as a game of chance, in which everyone is either a gambler or a croupier – is cracked and uninspired. However, Jack’s cognitive dissonance as he struggles with these competing aspects of his psyche (the discovery of ‘Jack’ as his croupier persona) is brilliantly determined. As Jack the Gambler and Jack the Croupier are intertwined, the film doesn’t settle for a straightforward Jekyll and Hyde dynamic: neither man is perfect—and not particularly likable. Rather, they represent two powerful competing urges; A willingness to risk it all, and a willingness to judge others who dare to risk it all.

Filed under Review · Alex Kingston, Billy Wilder, Casino Films, Clive Owen, Croupier, Croupier 1998, Double Indemnity, Gambling Films, Joseph Attard, Mike Hodges, Neo-Noir, Roger EbertI Went to Mike Hodges’s Croupier or Know What to Expect More Nothing less about it. And despite loving Clive Owen’s Killer Closer, Sin City and Inseparable Children of Men, I often wonder how many people think of him among some artists of a certain era. He’s put together a beautiful work and kind of simmering under the surface, like you just need to open the top of it. In fact, I don’t know if it’s out of fashion or has chosen to go away, but it’s one of the good ones, in a certain spectrum of intensity and before I digress completely, let’s go back to 1998 and this unique UK drama.

Lifesize Cardboard Cutout Of Vegas Casino Croupier Buy Cutouts At Starstills.com

In Cropier, Clive Owen plays Jack Manfred, who is trying to become a full-time writer but is being offered terrible pitches for small, blank magazine pieces but needs the cash, so he accepts what they offer. He’s looking for inspiration and a desire to break out of the bullshit he imagines with the yuppies and boy culture around him. However, that is not to say that he is not enriched by the environment but is looking for bigger ideas and an opportunity to do something ‘else’ in his life.

His dad, who seems uneasy when we first meet him, gets Jack a job as a croupier in a casino, but he’s already skilled at the job – and so we’re made aware that there’s more to learn than we do. As indicated at the beginning. He seems to know the industry better than the man running the joint, and while that’s an opportunity, it seems the world of gambling seems to be an addiction for Jack from the past, and it’s not long before he’s drawn back. Betting game.

At the beginning of Cropier, we learn that we will be with Jack through the story and that he is narrating with a voice-over that introduces us to his actual thoughts on the action on screen. He’s actually somewhat of a tourist, and we’ll get to know his real feelings about everything in this method. The only thing that stands out, because it is set in London, is the intense Americanism that is present – this is done on purpose for audiences on both sides of the pond.

In the vibe of the era, it has the sense of a Christopher Nolan follow-up or meme, things seem real but fictional, as if we’re slipping into the life of someone we see every day. Owen Jack is also somewhat distant from those around him, and as the new job begins to take over his life, and his relationship with Gina Mackie’s Marion begins to sour, things at work become more disruptive, including his interest in other women, and in particular becomes , Kate Hardy’s Bella and Alex Kingston’s Janie, the latter eventually wants to recruit him as an insider for a heist she knows about.

A Few Good Casino Scenes From Movies

Croupier is very late 90s, mind you, so Jack is trying to be a man’s man and while the female roles aren’t as well suited as they could be, Bella, Marion and Janie all have their strengths and personalities; They’re not standard stock characters when you break it down honestly, even if they effectively have the difference of a ‘male gaze’ centric focus, and clearly Clive Owens plays everything Jack is – although Bella is more independent. Overall, the story that evolves out of all their relationships has an unusual charm that pulls you in, which in turn captures the London of the late 90s.