Croupier

Written by: Paul Mayersberg Starring: Clive Owen, Kate Hardie, Alex Kingston, Gina McKee, Nicholas Ball, Nick Reding

An icy, controlled portrait of an icy, controlled man, “Croupier” is the noirish tale of Jack Manfred (Owen) a struggling London writer who takes a job as a croupier in order to make ends meet. The film (made in 1998, but just getting released here), has a small focus, but it is tautly written and directed, and features a star-making performance by Owen (who--note to producers--would make a great James Bond, once Pierce Brosnan gives up the gig). The movie is consistently interesting and follows in the footsteps of such terrific neo-noir, low-budget winners as “The Last Seduction,” “Red Rock West,” and “One False Move.” Jack, whose South African background and experiences are left deliberately vague in the story, is struggling to put together a novel. He lives with Marion (McKee), a cop turned store detective. When a job becomes available at a London casino, Jack takes the opportunity, and what starts out as a job of convenience quickly becomes what for Jack is an obsession.

He is a skilled croupier (though how and why he came by this ability is never really explained), and a lot of the fun of the movie is learning something about what goes on behind the scenes at a casino (I am no authority on this topic, but it seems quite authentic). Jack becomes entwined in the lives of some of his fellow casino workers, Bella (Hardie), and Max (Reding), with numerous unforeseen consequences. Meanwhile, it dawns on Jack that material for a fascinating book is right there in front of him, and he starts to write it (he calls the book “I, Croupier”), and, if nothing else, his book (and the movie we are watching) make it very clear that the casino professionals feel nothing but utter contempt for the gambling public (they call them “punters”). It’s enough to make you swear off Vegas forever. Then, against the rules--and his better sense--Jack becomes involved with a customer named Jani (an excellent Kingston, whom many will recognize from her role on the TV series “ER”), an expatriate South African who finds herself in a spot of trouble involving money, and who ultimately turns to Jack for help. Jack, who calculates the risks of everything he does--but who never gambles himself--must decide whether to make this riskiest of bets.

The movie is unpredictable in its plot twists and manages to maintain a high level of suspense as to Jack’s ultimate fate, and it provides an ending that is at once satisfying and somewhat chilling. “Croupier” is a fine example of tight, expert filmmaking. In fact, it is almost too successful; it is so good at portraying Jack as an emotionless observer that the audience never really empathizes with him. He plays out his hand, but our fascination with the proceedings is more akin to that generated by nature specials about jungle carnivores than that generated by any sense of human connection. The movie wraps us skillfully around its little finger, and it is far better than most of the movie product out there, but it never quite gets under our skin. We are completely engaged, but ultimately distanced from the characters, which means “Croupier” remains a genre piece; a fine, entertaining one, to be sure, but a genre piece all the same. (8/13/2000)