In the nearly 25 years since the release of the best poker movie of all time in “Rounders,” it’s been mostly busted flushes and missed straights at the table, with a few exceptions such as “Molly’s Game” (2017) and the Texas Hold’em scene in “Casino Royale” (2007), which was ludicrous in terms of the hands that were dealt but was wildly entertaining nonetheless.
So, as a poker enthusiast, I was pretty hyped for “Poker Face,” with Russell Crowe directing, co-writing and starring in the story of a tech billionaire and professional gambler who gathers his best friends for a night of high-stakes poker. Sure enough, after a prologue set during the childhood days of the main character and his friends, and a few other sequences (some of which turn out to have little to do with the main story), Crowe’s Jake Foley welcomes his closest friends to his palatial retreat, invites them to sample the high-end wines, whiskeys and cigars — and they all sit down to play some cards. I mean, we’re nearly 40 minutes into the slow-moving set-up, but here we go. Excellent!
