Ante up

"Rounders" (1998)

The movie: A gambling noir piece following a law student's (Matt Damon) descent into the poker underworld to help out an ex-con pal (Edward Norton) awash in debt.

Game of choice: High-stakes poker, preferably played in private clubs that radiate a speakeasy shadiness

Winning or losing hand?: Though it's hard to imagine any movie in which John Malkovich plays a nasty, Russian-accented gambler named Teddy KGB—whose tell is splitting Oreos in half—doesn’t come up aces, "Rounders" registers as a slack loser. Damon was hot off of his "Good Will Hunting" success and Norton was a critic's darling on the rise, but the film grossed a paltry $22.9 million and received mostly middling reviews. Take it as proof that even the savviest pro players have their off days.