Mississippi Grind

Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn) is a lousy realtor by day, and a compulsive gambler by night. He usually gambles until he's broke, then lies about it. He meets Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) playing poker one night, and the two hit it off. Curtis gambles when he feels like it, and seems good at it, but doesn't really care when he wins or not. He seems content to drift, but Gerry seems to do better when he listens to Curtis, and he's got debts, so they head to New Orleans where Curtis knows about some big poker game run by an old friend of his.

The movie works because it gradually shows that Curtis and Gerry are pretty much the same, it just manifests in different ways. Mendelsohn plays Gerry as kind of a pitiful schlub, the guy that tries to take advantage of your pity, but is too crappy of liar to pull it off. Reynolds gives Curtis that goofy, kind of annoying charm he usually has in movies, that gets people to go along with him for awhile, until he gets bored or antsy. At their core, both of them use people, they just go about it different ways. Curtis seems happier, while Gerry tends to swing from one end of the emotional spectrum to another, but they're both after something winning money isn't going to give them.

A lot of scenes are set in kind of dingy surroundings, dimly lit bars or houses, lots of smoke, people drinking and not really looking like they're having a good time. Even the places that look a little more high class have that air of being past the sell-by date. Just not quite able to maintain the effort to keep up appearances any longer. That's about the level these two guys are at, ultimately. A good night with the dice isn't going to change that.

I didn't have any expectations going in, but I enjoyed it.