Directed by Curtis Hanson

The real mystery about this film is why it has taken so long to get to our screens - it dates itself by centring on the World Series Poker championships of 2003, it was finished in 2005, but has only just made it here. Not that it's a lot to shout about, mind. Though likeable enough, it's strangely low key and never quite rises to the promise and level of wit of the crackling opening sequence.

Central figure is Huck Cheever, perpetually broke gambling addict (though quite why this is so is hard to understand when you think about it - he's so good with the cards, where does all his money go?) As with all addictive personalities, relationships play second fiddle to the drug of choice, in this case gambling, and nice guy at heart Huck is no exception. Eric Bana does well as in actually making Huck credible and likeable - but then he never turns in a bad performance, managing to make even Hector in the deplorable TROY a recognisable human being. He's also a victim of this syndrome himself, with a famous father, LC (Robert Duvall, resplendently seedy in auburn hair implant) a great poker star himself in his time. A pretty predictable you-never-loved-me/rivalry thing is going on here between father and son, that despite two good performances never bites.

The other ‘big' relationship that almost goes by the board is a romantic one - but Drew Barrymore is sadly miscast as little miss hometown girl Billie Offer (I kid you not) who brings a whiff of morality to Huck's drifting life...too old and clever looking to be so naïve, too prissy to be a lounge singer (a dull shadow of Diane Keaton doing the same thing in Annie Hall), too oddly dressed and coiffeured... she tries to smile like she means it, but it's desperate stuff, and not a part she is at all a natural for. See her grit her teeth as she tries to make plausible such apercus as ‘You know what I think? I think everyone's just trying not to be lonely,' as the couple gaze over a rather fabulous looking Las Vegas. Robert Downey Jnr also pops up, briefly doing his trademark amiable madcap act, sadly a brief pleasure. Otherwise many of the participants are actual poker players, who, I suppose, are halfway to actors by definition.

But while the people stuff did not enthral me, what I did like, unexpectedly, was the poker. I had imagined it might be a film chiefly for poker enthusiasts, but on reflection it may well be alluring to people who know nothing about it, like me - the novelty of the way it works, the jargon, just the movement of the cards - involved me more than anything else.

So though at two hours it's way too long, it's not without its pleasures, if only for the uninitiated.

Seen at Empire Cinema, Newcastle, June 25 2007