Deal is a 2008 poker drama that tells the story of Tommy Vinson (Reynolds), a retired gambler and poker player who takes Alex Stillman (Harrison), a young college kid and talented player, under his wing.
With Tommy’s help, Alex grows as a player, learning primarily to recognize various physical tells and hide his own. Along the way, however, the two get into an argument and go their separate ways.
The movie culminates with a $25,000 WPT Championship at Bellagio, where both Alex and Tommy enter. Tommy hasn’t played in 20 years, after a promise he gave to his wife, but his relationship with Alex reignites his passion, and he wants to win a big title before he retires, this time for real.
As it happens in poker movies, both of them manage to find their way to the final table and end up playing each other for the title and the massive $8,000,000 first place.
Core Deal Movie Details & Rating
- Title: Deal
- Year: 2008
- Director: Gil Cates Jr.
- Main Cast: Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak (and many other poker stars)
- Genre: Drama
- Duration: 86 min
- Overall Score: 6/10
| Criteria | Score (1-10) | Reviewer note |
| Poker Realism | 7/10 | The movie gets some of the things right, but a lot of it just doesn’t make sense. |
| Story & Writing | 6/10 | The story is mildly original, but, beyond that, leaves a lot to be desired. |
| Acting & Characters | 6/10 | I’m no expert on acting, but the main actors really don’t feel into it at all. |
| Poker Excitement Factor | 7/10 | There are a few somewhat exciting poker scenes, but that’s about it. |
| Entertainment value | 6/10 | You can watch it, or you can watch something else. If you decide to pass, you won’t be missing out on much. |
What We Loved About the Movie
When you look at a cast of deal and realize that it has appearances from the likes of Antonio, Phil ‘Unabomber’ Laak, and even the legendary Mike Sexton and Vince van Patten commentating duo, it’s very easy to get excited.
You have all the makings of a great poker movie right then and there, right? Unfortunately, appearances from big-name players might be the only actually good thing about this movie. It’s always fun to see Antonio and Phil at the same table, even if it’s in a movie.
Deal also gets some of the things about how poker actually works right, so we have to give it that. A couple of scenes where Alex is bagging his chips after a successful first day of a tournament are a nice touch, but they’re not enough to redeem the movie.
It would be nice to say that at least the story was heartwarming, but the whole plot doesn’t seem realistic at all. Tommy decides Alex is this awesome poker player he wants to mentor after watching him briefly play in a random cash game, and he figures that’s enough to trust him with thousands of his money, while struggling financially himself.
But if there has to be something to like, let’s say the plot is mildly original. It’d just be mean to say everything about this movie is bad.
Shortcomings
In case you weren’t able to tell from the previous section, the list of shortcomings in this movie is a very long one. It’s hard to know where to start, so let’s do some poker things first.
For one reason or another, filmmakers decided that showing most of the poker action by having the camera zoom over the tables and some cards and chips flying around was the best approach. There are a few actual hands shown in the movie, and the way those are depicted is decent, but a lot of it during the first two-thirds of the film is just zooming through the action.
A tournament with an $8,000,000 first-place prize and a buy-in of $25,000 wasn’t something that would happen in the mid to late 2000s, not even in the World Series of Poker. We all know that big numbers appeal to people, but they certainly went a bit too far with this one.
And then, prize jumps at the final table are super awkward. The second place is getting four million, and the fourth place is getting just over $500k. There are some top-heavy distributions out there, but this just doesn’t sound right at all.
Furthermore, if you’ve only seen Deal and that’s where you got your poker knowledge, you’d think that physical tells are all there is to poker, and that there is a magic way to tell someone’s exact two hole cards by the way they scratch their face.
There are just so many clichés stuffed inside this movie, and so many misconceptions about the game, that it’s hard to watch at times. And all of this wouldn’t be nearly as surprising if they didn’t have actual poker pros and people from the WPT in the crew.
Beyond poker, the acting is fairly subpar. There is hardly a moment in Deal where you actually get excited about something happening on the screen or where you root for or against one of the characters. In poker vocabulary, it could best be described as ”meh.”
I could go on, but maybe you still want to see this movie, and, if so, it’s better if there are things you can discover on your own. For example, there is also a love story (of sorts) in there, and, spoiler alert, you probably won’t care much about it, either.
Final Verdict
If there is one reason to watch Deal, it’s the lineup of characters. Esfandiari and Laak are playing themselves, Tilly is Karen ‘Razor’ Jones (for some reason), and it’s always great to see late Mike Sexton in his natural element.
Beyond this, there isn’t much this movie has to offer. It won’t get you very excited, and it won’t wake your desire to play the game. It’s fine to see if you don’t have anything else to do, but if you never see it, you won’t be missing much.
