Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

An embarrassingly toothless and endlessly boring story about characters we barely get to know doing things that are more exciting than they make it seem.

| Apr 28, 2011

| Original Score: 0/5 | Apr 4, 2011

As a piece of entertainment, it's like being dealt a pair of twos: You could certainly do worse, but ...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 9, 2009

It's not the cards you play but the people . . . which is why poker movies (in this case Texas Hold'em) are far more interesting than many sports movies

| Apr 24, 2009

so gossamer thin that it's hard to feel strongly about it one way or the other

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 18, 2008

There is so little originality here and so much faking it that it hardly justifies critical analysis.

| Original Score: 0/5 | Aug 15, 2008

The outcome is never in question, but for fans of the game, even simulated action is preferable to perfunctory drama.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 13, 2008

Highly derivative, embarrassingly hollow.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 8, 2008

They've got to do something else with these poker movies.

Full Review | Apr 28, 2008

There is more complexity in a sub-par episode of the Teletubbies than in anything to be found in Deal

| Original Score: 0/5 | Apr 25, 2008

There are plenty of movies that prove entertaining despite their familiarity; this isn't one of them.

| Original Score: C- | Apr 25, 2008

Reynolds doesn't convey any of the lightning bolt insouciance that made him arguably the greatest movie star of the '70s and '80s (really) but rather just stands there.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 25, 2008

Success isn't in the cards for this plodding poker drama.

Full Review | Apr 25, 2008

You've got to know when to walk away from a movie like this: right away, and that's only if you can't run.

| Original Score: D- | Apr 25, 2008

A raft of pros appear as themselves, but this story will likely seem less exciting than an actual competition.

| Apr 25, 2008

Deal could use a touch of the slickness that's making the blackjack drama 21 such a greasy hit.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 25, 2008

Thoroughly predictable in every way including an obvious ending that tries unsuccessfully to bluff the audience, Deal feels fake and trite.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Apr 25, 2008

About now is when a critic would throw in a reference to a low poker hand to compare it to, but Deal can't even rise to a pair of twos.

| Apr 25, 2008

...a movie making a brief stop at local theaters on its way to DVD bargain bins and cable showings at two in the morning.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 25, 2008