
When you become a detective in Warsaw Indiana - you go to Poker Night, where you play against some of the best cops in the business. They tell you stories about their time on the job - their successes and failures. When new Detective Stan Jeter leaves the game, he is caught by a vicious psychopath and locked in a basement. Using the stories he heard at Poker Night, he must match wits against his captor - and save not only himself, but the young girl trapped in the basement wi... (Full plot summary below)
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When you become a detective in Warsaw Indiana - you go to Poker Night, where you play against some of the best cops in the business. They tell you stories about their time on the job - their successes and failures. When new Detective Stan Jeter leaves the game, he is caught by a vicious psychopath and locked in a basement. Using the stories he heard at Poker Night, he must match wits against his captor - and save not only himself, but the young girl trapped in the basement with him. Like Seven and Usual Suspect, Poker Night combines thrills and twists and turns that will leave you guessing till the very end.
Leave your thoughts about Poker Night.
| Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiFrancis has a few moments of inspiration, nonchalantly deploying visual gags. If he were going for cult status, perhaps gonzo is the way to go. The rest of his stylistic flaunts, plot twists and contrivances are joyless. |
| We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoPoker Night is a "wild card" watch, but Greg Francis flashes a winning hand by making a memorable monster out of Michael Eklund. |
| Film Journal InternationalMaitland McDonaghPoker Night is a clever little piece of filmmaking. |
| Contactmusic.comRich ClineRefusing to settle down to focus on its intriguing central story, filmmaker Greg Francis whirls around through a series of whizzy flashbacks that layer in all kinds of subtext and interest. |
| Assignment XAbbie BernsteinPoker Night has a lot to recommend it, but the game-night stories never seem to feed into Jeter's plight in a meaningful way. |
| Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreThe players are good, with Mirchoff earnest and young as a nice contrast to the salty, rough-and-tumble elders, especially the iconic screen heavy, Perlman. It’s just that when the last card is dealt on this Poker Night, Francis isn’t content to let the best hand win. |
| The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThis mash-up of cop thriller and torture porn features some clever twists and provides the opportunity for some terrific characters actors to strut their stuff. But Poker Night ultimately deals a losing hand. |
| The DissolveChris KlimekGreg Francis’ writing and directing feature debut plays like a thoroughly mundane mashup of grim David Ayer cop movies like Training Day, neo-noirs like The Usual Suspects, and green-tinted, subterranean torture flicks like Saw for long enough that when Francis turns out to have an ace up his sleeve, it’s a genuine surprise. Not enough to put the movie into the black, but enough to mark him as a talent to watch. |
| VarietyDennis HarveyFlashbacks within flashbacks exhaust viewer patience in this snarky mix of crime, action and sadism. |
| User ReviewRob HPoker Night starts off with a bang and doesn't let up. It follows a somewhat frantic pace, but, by way of crafty storytelling, manages to be much more than just another mindless hack 'n' slash film. In fact, labelling Poker Night a hack 'n' slash film at all, is doing it a disservice. There is far too much thought and creativity put into the story, for that. Flashbacks are a central focus in Poker Night and they're cleverly utilized. Each veteran cop who partakes in poker night, takes the viewer on a journey back in time, imparting wisdom that directly pertains to protagonist, Beau Mirchoff's survival. What's interesting is that Mirchoff acts out each cop's flashback, rather than the cops themselves. It's a unique approach that I really enjoyed. Poker Night does an outstanding job of visual storytelling and it's cinematography suits the story perfectly. The score is equally impressive. The cast is solid, with strong performances around the table, no pun intended. I especially liked Michael Eklund as the psychotic serial killer. When unmasked, his eyes were perfect for the job. Very sick stuff. Arguably, Poker Night's greatest strength is how it merges several genres (thriller, horror, suspense, action, comedy) into one, while avoiding the whole "jack of all trades, master of none" moniker. It takes a well thought out story to accomplish this and shouldn't be overlooked. For instance, I was completely shocked in several scenes and burst out laughing in several others. Especially the killer's "family life" flashback, where he was still wearing his killing mask. I felt like a manic lunatic watching it myself. Good stuff. In closing, Poker Night is not the greatest individual thriller, horror, suspense, action or comedy movie of all time. What it is, is one of the only movies I can think of, that combines all of these genres into one film. That alone makes it unique and well worth you 105 minutes. It's fragmented yet seamless, it's tricky, it's unpredictable, it's stylish, it's clever. And most of all, it absolutely deserves a higher score than 44%. Throw in a big name actor and the score probably doubles. Again, stupid but true. Definitely recommended. |