I remember seeing this movie when it came out over a year ago, and liked it so much that I caught it again at a second run cinema on some rainy Saturday afternoon. I saw the DVD at Target at the bargin-bin price of $3.99, picked it up, and rewatched it last night/this morning. I guess nobody else much loved it–critical response seemed to be so-so (well, rottentomatoes.com gives it 75%, but most of the reviews I read at the time were indifferent)–but I thought it was pretty damn good. The story isn’t all that much, and I’m not a fan of Vegas, but the performances were teriffic. William H. Macy and Maria Bello are always reliable, but I’d almost forgotten that Alec Baldwin could act. And Estella Warren isn’t expected to do any more than look sleazily attractive, which she does fine. Paul Sorvino is excellent in a small part as always, and Ron Livingston does his usual clean-cut thing. The only performance that bugged me was Shawn Hatosy, who just looks like the kind of guy I’d always want to hit upside the head with a two-by-four.
I enjoyed it so much I bought it at full price when it came out on DVD. I thought the sex scenes were really natural and realistic, which made them a welcome change from most movies.
I thought it was great. It was one of those movies that my SO and I put on our Netflix queue and it sat at the bottom until we ran out of stuff that we really wanted to see. Since I tend to have really low expectations of my queue-filler movies, I was floored by how good it was.
I expected that it was going to be more about the gambling and less about the interpersonl relationships, based on comments I’d heard/read about it. So I went in expecting a much different film. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. Agree with everyone’s comments on Macy (but that’s hardly a surprise; is he ever not good in a role?). Ron Livingston is also quite good. I’m rarely if ever disappointed to learn that he’s in something.
I loved that movie. I think I rented it during my Ron Livingston phase. I don’t remember where I read something that pointed out the scene where Maria Bello is holding on to naked William H. Macy by the basket and how unflattering it looked but that always sticks in my memory. Man, that did look unflattering. It was a great movie, though, apart from that.
Well, the nudity was pretty graphic (and that was the “cut” version–the original cut summitted to the MPAA was rated NC-17) but I thought the sex scenes were quite, um, realistic. We get to see that Maria Bellow–a gorgeous woman, no doubt–has flawed skin and cellulose just like a real person. Whether the scenes were gratuitious is a judgement call; the film probably could have worked without them, but I do think they added to a connection between the characters.
I really liked the movie and gave it 4 stars on Netflix.
I am never bothered by sex scenes and would not let anything like that get in the way of my enjoying a movie. Sometimes real life is gritty and usually not perfect.