In this entertaining drama, Matt Damon plays legal student-turned-poker player Mike McDermott, who keeps his cards - and his emotions - close to his chest. After losing his life savings, McDermott promises his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) he'll give up the game, but the lure of the tables proves strong when a friend and fellow gambler (Edward Norton) comes out of jail with a pressing need to pay off a debt. Damon and Norton give accomplished performances, and they're well supported by a stellar cast that includes John Malkovich, John Turturro and Martin Landau. Director John Dahl established the vogue for "nouveau" film noir with his superb The Last Seduction, and he imbues this with a similar downbeat atmosphere that atones for the rather sketchily drawn characters and overfamiliar plot.

Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best friend Lester 'Worm' Murphy, just out of prison and owing lots of money to the wrong kind of people. McDermott becomes his co-guarantor and now there's only one way to raise the money, the pair have to get back into the game.