411 – Rounders

For this week’s episode, we’re… dealing (sorry) a late 90s favorite that was meant to be a post-Oscar star vehicle and wound up a box office disappointment. After the Oscar and box office success of Good Will Hunting, the next stop on Matt Damon’s ascent to megastardom was to be Rounders, an NYC-set drama about high-stakes underground poker. Damon starred as a law student who once gave up the game but quit at the insistence of his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol), only to get pulled back in by his no-good childhood friend (Edward Norton). This episode, we talk about the film’s status as a cult favorite of sorts and the film’s palatable brand of machismo. We also discuss Norton’s Oscar nomination in the same year for American History X, Mol’s Vanity Fair It Girl cover, and John Malkovich giving goofy Russian accent. Topics also include Celebrity Poker Showdown, John Turturro in a bathhouse, and (eep) Famke Janssen on Nip/Tuck.