Nine months later and Mike is driving a truck and trying to stay out of poker, mostly to appease his girlfriend Jo (former It girl Gretchen Mol. But for all his wisdom and smarts, Mike makes an idiotic move and loses his life savings of $30,000 to a Russian mobster known as KGB Teddy (John Malkovich, sporting one of the all-time worst accents ever).
He mixes the narration with an explanation of poker and philosophy on life. He opens with an explanation of no-limit Texas hold 'em poker. Set in New York City, our hero and narrator is law student and poker player Mike McDermott (Matt Damon). But they could have made a better effort. With poker-mania all over ESPN, I'm not surprised that Miramax came out with this Collector's Series disc. It has more than a few flaws that director John Dahl, who likes his noir films, simply can't work around. However, I won't guarantee massive box office in 2004, even with WSoP-mania.
