Barnes & Noble

Although it earned uniformly favorable reviews, Croupier only played in a select group of theaters located largely in major metropolitan areas. Unfortunately, most American moviegoers never had a chance to see this little gem on the big screen. Nevertheless, DVD release brings the movie to a much wider audience and comes heartily recommended. Clive Owen stars as an ambitious young man who's also a bit of a lowlife. He longs to be a published author and works tirelessly on what he hopes will be a great first novel. Needing money on which to live, he returns to the outwardly glamorous but morally questionable world of professional gambling, taking a job as croupier in a large London casino. The women in his life are well played by costars Gina McKee (as his long-suffering girlfriend) and Alex Kingston (a casino patron with whom he enjoys an erotic liaison). Owen -- an up-and-comer whose name has been bandied about as the possible "next" James Bond -- brings understated cynicism and detachment to his streetwise character, and he conveys his thoughts and attitudes with deceptively simple facial expressions and body language. It's a remarkably sophisticated performance that calls to mind some of the world-weary protagonists of classic films noir. In fact, the entire film has a noirish cast, thanks to the tough, lean script by Paul Mayersberg and the muscular direction of Mike Hodges. With just a slight difference in emphasis, Croupier might have been a floridly melodramatic and altogether conventional thriller. Hodges's refusal to bend this material to more common forms results in a less flamboyant but far more compelling movie. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A man finds his personal and professional loyalties divides by his new career at a casino in this crime drama. Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) is a cocky, supremely confident man who wants to be a writer. Jack's long struggle to finish his first novel has landed him deep in debt, and his father (Nicholas Ball) volunteers to get him a job in a casino in London. While Jack doesn't gamble himself, he has the dexterity (and enough contempt for the game) to be a good dealer. He's soon making a tidy living as a dealer, despite the objections of his girlfriend, Marion (Gina McKee), who thinks his job is taking him away from his true calling as a writer. Against the orders of his boss, Jack has a fling with Bella (Kate Hardie), another dealer at the casino, and allows himself to be seduced by one of his customers, Jani (Alex Kingston). However, it turns out Jani wants more than sex from Jack; she and her compatriots have a plan to rob the casino and they want Jack to be their man on the inside. Croupier was directed by Mike Hodges, whose first film was the classic British thriller Get Carter. Mark Deming

New York Times

Clive Owen conveys a sharp, cynical intelligence that rolls off the screen in waves whenever he widens his glittering blue eyes.... Croupier, filmed by Mr. Hodges from a screenplay by Paul Mayersberg, shows that the director hasn't lost his knack for whip-smart, tongue-in-cheek suspense. Stephen Holden

Chicago Sun-Times

The plot is more than we bargained for. I will not hint at the details, which lead to an unexpected and satisfactory...ending. The point of the movie is not the plot, but the character and the atmosphere; Hodges is bemused by Jack Manfred, who thinks he can stand outside his own life, control it, figure the odds and turn it into a novel. Roger Ebert

Product Details

• UPC: 014381059625
• Source: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Language: English
• Time: 1:34:00
• Sales Rank: 10,022

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