Conventional wisdom says that film makers should have learned their lesson by now when putting their time and money behind a poker movie. After the “Lucky You” debacle, Drew Barrymore was lucky to escape with her career; even though it was not nearly as intact as it was before she agreed to play in a film that only looks good if compared to an Ed Wood product…or Showgirls. With that said, there are those who occasionally look conventional wisdom in its smug little face and tell it where it can go. This is probably the sort of attitude that brought us the new film, All In: The Poker Movie.
Anybody who is walking in to watch this movie will be very disappointed if they are expecting to see a film that is like Rounders. It will be a very long time before we get another one like that. All In is not a story driven film, but more like something Michael Moore would do (minus all the bad research, misguided conclusion jumping, and general evil); in short it is a documentary. It takes the viewer through the rich history of the sport of poker. Those who truly enjoy looking back into the past and to see where our present came from will enjoy much of what this movie has to offer. Even though we get into such topics as the first playing cards, and the growth of the sport in olden days, this film seems to have one big, obnoxious hole in it.
The modern game of poker can thank the internet for and its popularity and where it is today in society. This is a huge point that seems to get glossed over by the filmmakers. It is sort of like producing a film about the history of the United States and saying something like, “the Great Depression ended, and then the United States was a world Superpower.” Leaving out that little thing in between called World War II would do a disservice to the audience. This is what seems to happen in this film by not devoting nearly enough time to the internet phenomenon angle of the games growth.
Overall this movie is worth the eight bucks it will cost to see it. Maybe in the sequel they will cover the internet days of the game in more detail. It can be called, “PokerStars Strikes Back!”
