A New York hustler, down ten thousand dollars to angry mobsters, takes his roommate, confidant, and conscience to Las Vegas to try to dig himself out of the hole. Not quite a character study -- it doesn't probe that deep; nothing more, really, than behavioral mimicry. And Jon Voight, who co-wrote the script with Al Schwartz, fails to communicate his fascination with this character, despite an effervescent, if-Bobby-De-Niro-and-Harvey-Keitel-can-do-it-so-can-I performance. And director Hal Ashby, despite some tastefully distanced camera set-ups, fails to communicate his own interest either. The movie perhaps has enough in common with his disastrous Second-Hand Hearts (stridency, low comedy, unsteadiness of tone) to suggest that Ashby might have been motivated by self-redemption. If that be the case, try, try again. With Burt Young, Bert Remsen, Ann-Margret. (1982) — Duncan Shepherd
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