Pretty Good

Beautiful, moving film.

Absolutely Fantastic

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I caught this movie on a lazy Sunday morning. I admit I had never heard of Stu Ungar, but this film made me want to learn more about him. Michael Imperioloi is fabulous as Stu, as are all the supporting characters. The film presents Stu as just a nice Jewish boy from NY - a sweet, moral guy really, but a guy with a bad addiction. How he manages to rise to the heights of his profession, then fall, over and over, makes for a terrific character study.I'm surprised by people who say this movie is horrible, dreadful, etc. Its fantastic, and I'm not even interested in gambling or gamblers. Its really about addiction, and how it can destroy a tremendous talent, whatever that talent may be.High Roller is so much better than Casino, which overplays its hand, so to speak, with over the top violence, one dimensional characters, drawn out marital spats, stereotyped situations. High Roller has some of that also, but in smaller doses and a very watchable 110 minutes. Imperioli lifts the whole film up with his well-rounded performance of Stu.Don't listen to the critics. High Roller is as satisfying as a great episode of The Sopranos.

This movie can't make up its mind whether it's a biopic or a gambling drama; it's neither, and it collapses under the strain. Individual scenes are very well written, it does hit the mark when he says "I'd rather blow my **** brains out!", and the foregone ending is well handled. I like the trick of having Death get Stuey to relate his life story in a sort of double flashback, and the casting of Young Stuey is uncanny, he looks like a baby Michael Imperioli. But Imperioli just doesn't look like Ungar, 'The Kid', in any way. This doesn't help the problem that if you know about Ungar's life the film gets it wrong, and if you don't know about Ungar's life it doesn't tell the story very well. The suicide of his other daughter (which is omitted) was probably the one thing that sent him right off the rails, but we never get to examine just why he was so self-destructive: many people's fathers beat them up and they don't become crackheads. Imperioli wasn't exactly miscast, he is very convincing as a louche gambler, but the Ungar storyline is too weak as depicted. And the soundtrack is overdone. This is a watchable TV movie about lowlife, but no more. It might have helped to have got Stu's haircut right, at least you wouldn't keep expecting Johnny Sack to walk in...

Having just finished reading the book "One of a Kind" a week ago, I was thinking "This would make a great movie, especially now, when people know a little about poker and poker players". I was totally shocked to find it while browsing at the video store last night. I had no idea someone had actually turned this into a film. I grabbed it immediately and watched with much anticipation. What a major letdown!All of the intriguing things about Stu Ungar were skimmed over quickly, and instead I was left with a biopic that could have been about anybody. Ungar may have been a burnt-out jerk, but he was also a brilliant thinker that could read people instinctively. That is what made him so fascinating. Why not focus on that?And talk about watering down the real truth. This guy was excessive about absolutely everything: drugs, women, gambling, starvation, sleep-deprivation. He gambled on sporting events from dusk to dawn, he would go missing for days while hanging out in crack dens, his body was perpetually emaciated, and yet, if he ever needed money, he could always beat just about anyone at will playing cards. Now that's a story!Too much time spent on his childhood and personal relationships (although his ties with "Vincent" and his daughter were hardly touched on) and hardly anything about his drugs use (which was exorbitant), his insane gambling and his incredible card-playing abilities.Probably too late now, but I hope someone remakes this film properly. I had no problem with Imperioli. He is excellent. The script just left him with nothing interesting to say.

This movie was well acted and kept my interest in the main character for the entire movie. Stu Unger lived an extraordinary life. Imagine if Stu were alive today! This movie paints a picture of what Stu Unger's life might have felt like. It was interesting to see how connected was growing up. I would have liked to seen more detail on Stu's partying, his gamesmanship and his relationship to Bob Stupak. But all in all, this movie was well done, well acted and the story touched on many facets of a life that was full of many events that were larger than life.This movie is worth renting.