Poker-themed action/thriller ‘Dead Money’ shines the cinema spotlight on modern poker and underground private games.
Emile Hirsch stars in the poker-themed action/thriller Dead Money. “Poker is math. Piles and piles of math.”
Those are the very first words you hear in the new poker-themed feature-length action/thriller “Dead Money.” And for the next two minutes, our hero, via voice-over, breaks down the language of modern poker for his audience. References to ranges, counting outs, opponent betting patterns, and ROI. It’s not just a summary lesson in poker that the first scene offers, it’s also a pair of promises – the first is that the game of poker is going to be a central character to the story, and the second, is that they’ll get it right.
And for the most part, Dead Money delivers.
The story is a simple one (no major plot spoilers here), Andy, played by star Emile Hirsch, is a private cash game grinder on a downswing, looking to turn his fortunes around. When the high-stakes underground game he’s playing in gets robbed at gunpoint, the robbers drive off with more than six figures in cash, leaving Andy with “less than zero.” But when an opportunistic Andy stumbles back upon the stolen cash, he grabs it and ultimately looks to run it up by playing in a series of private games as the original thieves come looking for the money.
As Andy, Hirsch is confident and convincing. While the character of Andy doesn’t actually do too much in the movie to ask you to align with him, Hirsch uses his own on-screen charisma to bring you in and have his back. Hirsch plays Andy knowing vibes of a studied poker player right down to the emotional detachment of winning and losing. And when, at his lowest, he spits out the battle cry of degens on a downswing – “one solid heater is all I need and I am up and walking.” – you almost believe that he will.
The reason it feels authentic is that Hirsch did his homework by walking the walk. He attended private games, put in time studying, […]
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