Today’s quick review: Deal. Alex Stillman (Bret Harrison), a fresh-faced college graduate, has the brains for poker, but he’s missing the level head and people skills needed for high-level play. That all changes when he catches the attention of Tommy Vinson (Burt Reynolds), a retired poker champion who decides to take Alex under his wing. Alex improves rapidly and begins to win real money until a fight with Tommy threatens to tear them apart.
Deal is a drama about a veteran poker player and his talented but inexperienced apprentice. Defying his parents, Alex throws himself into the world of professional poker, risking everything for a shot at the world championships. Deal is a by-the-numbers gambling drama with similarities to a sports movie. Deal tries to build its story around the relationship between Alex and Tommy, but its execution falls short.
Deal suffers from a subtle but pervasive problem: It lacks personality. Alex and Tommy are static characters with weak hooks for the audience. Alex is overconfident at the card table and uncertain of himself everywhere else, and his growth as a person and as a player never comes across clearly. Tommy is meant to be a wise player crippled by his regrets, but his poker advice comes across as trite, and he never develops a rapport with Alex.
The movie’s story and direction also suffer from a lack of personality. The scenes are not as tense as they should be, there are few subplots of any importance, and the conflict does not have personal depth, in spite of the movie’s best attempts to flesh out its characters. Overall, Deal is missing the hook it needs to live up to its full potential, leaving it a rote execution of a story that should have some glamor to it.
Still, even with all of its faults, Deal manages to tell the story it sets out to. Its execution is far from stellar, but it plays out its story with competence and builds to a nice finish. Deal even has the advantage of being lighter and less exaggerated than other gambling movies, keeping it about the characters and the game rather than debts or addiction. Still, most viewers would be better off skipping Deal in favor of its competition.
For a more stylish take on a similar premise, try 21. For a more dramatic story about gambling and addiction, try The Gambler or Rounders. For a gambling story with richer characters, try Mississippi Grind. For a much darker story about a gambler and his mentor, try The Hustler. For a more dynamic story with a similar mentor-protege relationship, try Two for the Money.
[5.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446676/). I give it a 6.0 for a passable but unexceptional story.