Blockmary
**SPIOLERS WITHIN**Four Dogs Playing Poker had a very good premise. Unfortunately, the plot gaps kill the movie. The following are issues I had with the movie:1. In a game of life or death, they let one person go into the bank to place the life insurance policies in the safe deposit boxes. Ultimately, this leads to the demise of the other characters. Are you kidding me?? Gee, you think she might cheat the other people and save her own life?? Surely not. Lets trust her to go in alone.2. There is no way they could have collected on life insurance policies that quickly, especially in a situation as suspicious as it would have been.3. Incriminating messages are left on various answering machines. These people are apparently not too bright. I will stop at this point, although I could go on forever. The acting was mediocre AT BEST. A couple of scenes were really corny, including the leaping between buildings and the woman falling off the ladder. If you are looking for a movie that is realistic, this is absolutely not it.
5 out of 10.
slim-44
This movie is a complete waste of time. I saw it on Showtime and I feel ripped off for the time spent watching it. As previously mentioned, the plot holes are big enough to drive a Hummer2 through with nooooo problem. *Minor Spoilers************Insurance - I'm sure the check would not have been cut within a day. Not enough time to save their skins.Answering machines - plenty of incriminating evidence left on them.Auto tags - why remove tags after the heist, only to toss them off to side of the street rather than in the water. Then Tim Curry keeps the screws! What the hell was that about?No one thought that MAYBE the Forrest Whitaker character was crying wolf just so that he would not have to pay them?Stupid and dumb movie! I can't believe it has a 6.0 rating. I give it a 3/10 -- and that's probably too generous.
Mickey Knox
The idea of this movie is brilliant and it could have led the script towards a totally different perspective of the action. Although some scenes are obviously forced, and higly unlikely, the movie captures you till the end. The dilema, the game to decide the killer and the victim, could have provided much more psychological moments than it actually does, and that would have made the movie better. Unfortunately, after the middle of the film, it becomes a simple action movie with simple and way too predictable events. All in all, a good idea, a nice watch, but it's a pity - it could have been great. Vote: 5 out of 10.
sibisi73
A stylish thriller, with one major let-down: the whole premise is just so unbelievable that you really need to be able to suspend your disbelief for this one. Four young art thieves, and their mentor (a surprisingly good, but underused Tim Curry), steal a priceless statue from an Argentinian millionaire, (a surprisingly good, but underused ex-James Bond, George Lazenby!) and ship it back to the States on a cargo ship. Recipient of the said statue hears that it isn't on the ship, and promises to kill all five if it isn't delivered - or make them pay $1 million. So, what would you do? Wait and see if it turns up, do a runner and leave the country? Or build up some elaborate insurance scam whereby one of you has to kill another one, so the rest of the gang can claim $1 million insurance? They opt for the latter, and all reality goes out of the window. It's a shame, because the four 'friends' are good together, and there are some genuine thrilling moments. Its pretensions to film noir are justified an only a few occasions, and the 'twist' ending doesn't really make up for the plotholes.That said, certainly worth a look.
AD
