Croupier

• Cert:
• Cat.no: FDVD 080
• Running time: 90 minutes
• Year: 1998
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 16 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Surround (DD2.0)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £n/a
• Extras: Trailers, Audio Description
  

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  Director:

  Mike Hodges

  (Black Rainbow, Croupier, Flash Gordon, Get Carter, Morons from Outer Space, A Prayer for the Dying, Pulp, The Terminal Man, TV: Dandelion Dead)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Paul Mayersberg

Music:

Cast:

Jack Manfred: Clive Owen
Giles Cremorne: Nick Reding
Jack Snr: Nicholas Ball
David Reynolds: Alexander Morton
Marion Nell: Gina McKee
Bella: Kate Hardie
Jani de Villiers: Alex Kingston
Girl with Joint: Rhona Mitra

A Croupierisn’t what Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) would choose to do as a primaryprofession. He’s an author by trade, but having been asked to write a tiredstory about a football club, he’d rather put together a script about somethingof which he knows a lot more.

His father (Nicholas Ball) gets him a job at a local casino, the GoldenLion, as a croupier, a job that Jack first tried while living out in SouthAfrica and rather good he became at it too. He makes a favourable impressionon his new boss, David Reynolds (Alexander Morton), by appearing tostick to the harsh staff rules imposed upon him, such as keeping his noseclean on the job and not dating any of the female staff.

I say he appears to because he gets an offer from South African andapparently-wealthy gambler Jani de Villiers (played by the British AlexKingston – and yes, at one point she goes nude) to take part in a robberyon the casino for which he will be paid £20,000, but his part in theproceedings will be comparatively small. It’s just the subsequent repercussionshe has to worry about afterwards.

There’s decent support from Gina McKee as Jack’s girlfriend Marionand a smaller role for the sexpot of the casino, Bella (Kate Hardie),as well as a brief cameo for ex-Lara Croft girl Rhona Mitra as “Girlwith Joint” at a party and someone’s clearly overdubbed her voice for thatpart.

Let Him Have It‘s Nick Reding takes on a reliable role as thene’er do well of the club, Giles, but just really repeating the same kindof behaviour he normally does on film. Finally, Clive Owen does turn in agood perfomance, even if it’s only playing exactly the same role he alwaysdoes too.

Croupier is an engaging 90 minutes, but it’s far from one that’llchange your life. I could write more about it, if there was more to say thatwouldn’t spoil the plot. It’s a film you can sit down to and just let happenin front of you.

The picture is pleasing but not outstanding. It certainly does the job thoughand is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 and anamorphic.I have no particular complaints with it.

The Dolby Surround sound is fine, but it’s not a film that requires muchmore to bring forth the casino ambience.

For a rental DVD, there’s not much in the way of extras that relate to the film in question.First up, you get a couple of trailers for other FilmFour productions,neither of which can be accessed from the main menu. These only play, normally,when you first put the disc in the player, unless you’re using a DVD-ROM playeror can access individual titles on the DVD. Also, we have a feature-lengthAudio Description track, like having every non-dialogue part spokenout loud.

The menu that you do get is static and silent and offers just the choice ofEnglish subtitles and ‘play movie’, but while there are 16 chapters to thefilm there’s no scene selection menu.

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PICTURE QUALITY
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EXTRAS


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