CROUPIER

2000

Did you ever see a film which you thought that you enjoyed, but then when you started to talk about it afterward, you realized thast you really didn't know what the hell was going on? That's what happened to us after seeing "Croupier." What we were probably reacting to as we thought that we were enjoying it, was the style of the director, and the interesting characters. It's the plot that eluded us! It's about a would-be novelist who works as a croupier in a London casino. When he becomes involved with a planned robbery of the casino; that's where the story line lost us. In talking about it afterward, my friend Jesse and I felt that it was a lot like the equally confusing 'The Spanish Prisoner" of a few years back. In that one, David Mamet played the same tricks on us, as director Mike Hodges does in this one. Good acting by Alex Kingston, and Clive Owen.

3.5 Stars

NJB