Poker Night
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGreg Francis
Written byGreg Francis
Produced byCorey Large
StarringRon Eldard
Beau Mirchoff
Ron Perlman
Giancarlo Esposito
CinematographyBrandon Cox
Edited byHoward E. Smith
Music byScott Glasgow
Production
company
Wingman Productions
Distributed byXLrator Media
Release dates
  • December 5, 2014 (2014-12-05) (VOD)
  • December 20, 2014 (2014-12-20) (theatrical release)
Running time
104 minutes
CountriesUnited States, Canada
LanguageEnglish

Poker Night, released in the UK as The Joker, is a 2014 crime thriller film that was written and directed by Greg Francis.[1] The film was released to video on demand on 5 December 2014 and had a limited theatrical release on 20 December.[2][3] Filmed in British Columbia, Poker Night centers upon a rookie detective that decides to attend an annual poker night held by veteran police officers, where each one details how they captured a murder suspect.[4]

Plot

Stan Jeter (Beau Mirchoff) is a new detective who gets invited to play a game of poker with several veteran police officers and detectives. Each one tells Stan about various insights they gained from different murder cases they investigated, which turns out to be invaluable when Stan is captured and imprisoned by a vicious, anonymous assailant (Michael Eklund). He finds that he has been imprisoned with Amy (Halston Sage), the daughter of a police officer, and that he must use the stories of his fellow poker players to find a way for both himself and Amy to escape.

Cast

Release

Home media

Poker Night was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Xlrator on February 10, 2015.[5]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Poker Night holds an approval rating of 50%, based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 5.39/10.[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7]

Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a negative review, writing, "Poker Night offers a near-indigestible mix of tricky Pulp Fiction-esque structural convolution, torture-porn tropes and a somewhat distasteful level of snark, making for a self-satisfied puzzle that most viewers will run out of patience trying to unravel."[8] Martin Tsai from Los Angeles Times offered the film similar criticism, stating that the film "brings to mind so many forgettable thrillers from the 1990s, films that aimed to impress stylistically but ultimately were met with indifference."[9] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter, although commending the film's acting, and "somewhat anthology feel", criticized the endless voiceover narration, "jumbled timeline", and devolving to genre tropes. Scheck concluded his review by writing, "Although it features plenty of entertaining moments along the way, in the end Poker Night feels like a cheat."[10] Patrick Cooper from Bloody Disgusting felt that the film showed promise and featured good performances, but was ruined by its nonlinear narrative, and inconsitant tone.[11]

The film was not without its supporters. Matt Molgaard from HorrorFreakNews rated the film a similar three and a half out of five stars, writing, "Poker Night may not satisfy those in search of the goriest film of the year, but anyone up for a unique viewing experience, a strong cast and a damn sharp villain are going to find Poker Night to be more than simply adequate."[12] Matt Boiselle of Dread Central gave the film four out of five stars, commending the film's performances, interwoven stories, and villain.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Patten, Dominic. "'Revolution's Giancarlo Esposito Joins Indie 'Poker Night'". Deadline. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Woods, Kevin. "Trailer and key art for Greg Francis' Poker Night, starring Ron Perlman". JoBlo. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Hunter, Rob. "'Pioneer' and 'Poker Night' Both Start With 'P' and Open This Friday, But Are They Thrillers Worth Seeing?". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Harvey, Dennis. "Film Review: 'Poker Night'". Variety. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Poker Night (2014) - Greg Francis". Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  6. ↑ "Poker Night (2014) – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  7. ↑ "Poker Night reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  8. ↑ Harvey, Dennis. "'Poker Night' Review: A Losing Hand – Variety". Variety.com. Variety Magazine. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  9. ↑ Tsai, Martin. "Review: 'Poker Night' deals a poor hand with few high cards - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  10. ↑ Scheck, Frank. "'Poker Night': Film Review". HollywoodReporter.com. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Patrick. "[Review] 'Poker Night' Builds Up and Tears Itself Down - Bloody Disgusting". BloodyDisgusting.com. Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  12. ↑ Molgaard, Matt. "Poker Night (2014) Review". HorrorFreakNews.com. Horror Freak News. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  13. ↑ Boiselle, Matt. "Poker Night (2014) - Dread Central". DreadCentral.com. Dread Central. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
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