There have been a lot of poker movies out there. Some of them honored the sport of poker by going all-in when it comes to the public’s interest in much the same way that a desperate hold’em player will go all-in with nothing more powerful than a pre-flop pair of twos and good poker face. This means that a lot of really bad poker movies have made it to the marketplace and made a lot of us embarrassed to be associated with the poker industry. There is one poker movie that got a lot of attention before it was made, and then suddenly dropped off the radar like stealth bomber. This was the film “Poker Night."
First of all, this film (had it ever happened) would have reunited Star Wars alumni Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson. This pairs one of the few bright spots in later additions to the Star Wars franchise (Jackson) with the actor who is widely accepted as being a co-conspirator when it comes to destroying the Star Wars Legacy (Christenson).
The plot of “Poker Night” involved Hayden’s character being captured by a crazed serial killer and tortured both mentally and physically (the killer is probably an old school Star Wars fan who is till mad about the new movies). The only way he can survive his ordeal and escape from his tormentor is to rely on the advice he got during his Police Departments regular poker nights. Had the movie been made, this probably would have been demonstrated by a steady stream of flashbacks.
Icon Entertainment had the rights to this movie. After watching poker film after poker film de-evolve into something that movie critics scrape off their shoes, it seems they thought better of starting this product and ended the madness before it actually started. I am kind of sorry this movie never happened. Hayden has become the Laurence Olivier of bad movies. Seeing him in another film with the “Snakes on a Plane” guy would have been entertaining (but for all the wrong reasons).
