Editor's pick

DVD - The Rise and Fall of Stu "the Kid" Ungar

Review

Poker's history is rich with great stories and superstars. One of the biggest stars, with one of the most interesting backgrounds, is Stu Ungar. High Roller is loosely based on the life of Ungar - emphasis on the "loosely."

The movie could be forgiven for playing fast and loose with Ungar's story were it entertaining. And on the other hand, its lack of excitement and inability to grip the viewer's attention could be excused, were the screenplay more faithful to the original story.

Instead, the actual result is a mediocre film that is neither dynamic enough to hold the viewer's attention, nor factual enough to at least suggest who Stu Ungar really was.

Poker fans will be incredibly disappointed to find there isn't a whole lot of poker action in the movie. There are brief scenes of Ungar winning his World Series of Poker championships, but no depiction of his journey there.

You never really get a sense of how much of a card genius he was at bridge, poker or even blackjack. Instead the audience just gets a glossed-over general idea that Ungar made money playing cards, but usually lost even more money with other types of betting.

Also disappointing is that Ungar was knee-deep in the poker world alongside many of the game's biggest figures after he moved to Vegas, but they aren't really represented in the movie. He won his first WSOP Championship after going heads-up against Doyle Brunson, and he was good friends with Mike Sexton and Billy Baxter, but they're nowhere to be found in the film.

After gambling, another large part of Ungar's life was his drug addiction, but High Roller doesn't even come close to showing to what extent cocaine, and later crack, ruled Ungar's life.

Like his card playing, it's portrayed as just another one of his habits. The movie even implies that he cleaned himself up for quite a while to win his third championship and get his life in order. In reality, his habit wasn't that easy to shake, and Ungar probably never spent more than two weeks at a time trying to kick his drug habit.

Ungar's story has great movie potential, but High Roller falls well short of doing it justice.

The film's only saving graces are that Ungar's story is interesting in itself, despite the liberties the makers took with it, and that Michael Imperioli, of The Sopranos, does a fantastic job as Ungar.

Details:

• DVD $15
  AWV Productions