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Passed
over by British cinemas, this 1998 film took off in the United States when it
was released in early 2000 in "art cinemas". From small beginnings it grossed
$6million and was brought back to Britain for general release in
2001.
Most people have at least one trade that they're really good at.
It's not necessarily what they love doing (or think they love), but they picked
it up somewhere down the line, and now they have that skill. They've probably
tried their hands at a variety of things, but it comes down to that one thing
and for our star its being a casino dealer. Croupier starts as Jack Manfred
(Owen) is struggling with getting a career as a novelist started. His
girlfriend, Marion (McKee), is a department store security spy, and finds his
novelist aspirations sexy, coming as she does from a working class background.
The thing is... Jack, deep down, might not be that great of a writer. Or at
least, it doesn't come naturally. |
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| The cast is solid,
with three strong female supporting roles (the persevering McKee, the electric
Hardie, and the compulsive gambler, Kingston) that represent different paths
Jack's life might follow. Will he stay "good"? Will he become addicted to the
exploitation of addiction? Will he become a gambler/criminal himself? Or...
will his path take him somewhere in between? As Jack Manfred, Clive Owen gives
a riveting-cool turn; there's something about him that takes us back to British
films of the 1950's and 1960's that spawned the original James Bond (Sean
Connery) movies. If the Bond movies ever went "retro" (emphasizing mood over
bombastic action scenes), Owen would be your new Bond |
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| Croupier is a
stylish, riveting dramatic crime story, loaded to the gills with subtext,
character development, and plot twists you'll be puzzling over all night. The
ending is open-ended (to a degree), but in doing so, director Mike Hodges and
writer Paul Mayersberg have given us a view of this story that someone reading
a book of the same story might have... it's all in the interpretation. Our
personal view is that they cut some scenes from the final cut that weren't good
enough and you have to fill in the gaps yourself. You won't be able to but that
doesn't stop you enjoying this movie. |
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| Director |
Mike
Hodges |
Clive
Owen |
Jack
Manfred |
| Writing |
Paul
Mayersberg |
Kate
Hardie |
Bella
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| Producer |
Jonathan
Cavendish |
Gina
McKee |
Marion
Nell |
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