''Croupier'' is a 1998 British

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

film directed by

Mike Hodges Michael Tommy Hodges (29 July 1932 – 17 December 2022) was a British screenwriter, film and television director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include '' Get Carter'' (1971), ''Pulp'' (1972), ''The Terminal Man'' (197 ...

and starring

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series ''Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

. The film attracted a strong critical following in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and helped to launch Owen's acting career there. It uses interior monologues in the style of many early noir detective films. ''Croupier'' was released on DVD by Alliance Atlantis in Canada and Image Entertainment in the US. It was disqualified from the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

s after it was shown on Dutch television.

Plot

Jack Manfred is an aspiring but as yet unsuccessful writer. To make ends meet and against his better judgment, he takes a job as a

croupier A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos. Origin of the word Originally a "croupier" meant ...

at a local casino. The interview was set up by his father, a small-time hustler back home in South Africa. Jack finds himself drawn into the casino world, and the job gradually takes over his life. He goes drinking with Matt, a croupier who he knows is cheating the casino. He sleeps with a fellow croupier named Bella in violation of casino policy. His relationship with his girlfriend Marion begins to deteriorate when he lets her read part of his book about a cold, unfeeling croupier who enjoys seeing gamblers lose, a character transparently based on Jack himself. Bella confronts Jack at his apartment, accuses him of getting her fired, and tells Marion about the one-night stand. One gambler, Jani, tries to befriend Jack, another serious violation of casino rules. Jani shows him bruises saying she got them from gambling creditors and asks Jack to be the inside man for a planned robbery at the casino. All he has to do is raise the alarm when a gambler cheats at his table. Jack eventually agrees and accepts a £10,000 advance with an additional £10,000 if all goes well. In doing so, Jack notices that Jani's injuries were faked. Marion reconciles with Jack but discovers that he is involved in something criminal and tries to foil it. She deletes a phone message for Jack alerting him that the robbery is on for Christmas Eve, and instead alerts a former colleague on the police. On the night of the robbery, Jack gets beaten by the gambler as a distraction while others try to grab the money. They fail, and Jack and Marion have an argument but she stays with him. When a late-night knock at the door comes, Jack assumes it to be the casino robbers demanding the return of their advance money. Instead, it is a policeman, who informs him that Marion has been killed in an apparent hit-and-run. Jack finishes his book and gets it published anonymously. It is a big success, but he doesn't change anything about his life, continuing to work as a croupier and live in his basement flat, not even buying the new car he wanted. Jack goes on with his life and gets another call, this one from Jani, who congratulates him on playing his part in the attempted robbery and implies that she benefited significantly. Then she puts his father on the phone, and he implies that he set up the croupier job for Jack in order to arrange for the attempted robbery, and he benefited as well. Stunned but amused, Jack hangs up. Just then, Bella appears from the bedroom and kisses him.

Cast

as Jack Manfred * Kate Hardie as Bella *

Alex Kingston Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston (born 11 March 1963) is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in ...

as Jani de Villiers *

Gina McKee Georgina "Gina" McKee (born 14 April 1964) is an English actress. She won the 1997 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for '' Our Friends in the North'' (1996), and earned subsequent nominations for '' The Lost Prince'' (2003) and '' The Street'' ...

as Marion Nell * Nicholas Ball as Jack Sr. * Alexander Morton as David Reynolds * Nick Reding as Giles Cremorne * Paul Reynolds as Matt *

Barnaby Kay Barnaby Kay (born 9 April 1969) is an English actor who has played roles in television, stage, film and performance art. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Personal life Kay was born at St Pancras, London, and is the son of ac ...

as Car Dealer

Production

''Croupier'' was commissioned by

FilmFour Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, i ...

and had a budget of £3 million.

Reception

''Croupier'' received a muted response upon its initial release in Britain. It was not until its release in the United States that it received widespread critical praise. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

gave ''Croupier'' a 95% positive rating based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The writer slumming for human truths and real experience is a common enough story, but this cool-headed and slick thriller provides a gut-churningly compelling backdrop to a look at our darker sides." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film three stars, remarking that the point of the film was not the plot, but the atmosphere and characterization. He also lauded the realistic depiction of the casino itself.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the movie, "a breezy meditation on life as a game of chance". The film grossed $7,075,068 at the box office.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croupier 1998 films 1998 crime drama films 1990s British films 1990s English-language films British crime drama films British neo-noir films Films directed by Mike Hodges Films set in London Films with screenplays by Paul Mayersberg Gambling films