what a cast . and what a waste of it . seriously and when a movie have gabriel byrne and jamie foxx and thandie newton and stuart townsend and hal holbrook and melanie griffith and sylvester stallone in it you would expect some quality . the movie be however one big mess with a unlikely story that can not seem to stop put twist and turn in it . yeah and i think that they think they be really be clever with all of it . the story be not only messy and unlikely and it also isn not exactly terribly original . it use element from early and much good poker game base movie . but to me it be really the many pointless twist and turn in the movie that do it . it make the story such an unlikely one to watch . on top of that the script remain fill with a lot of hole silly poker game error and thing that just do not make an awful lot of sense . why would any one above all thing want to play against a card player that be know a the best cheater in the game . this be what the movie be about and build up to but just do not ever make a lot of sense to me . despite that the movie have a great cast and it still feel a if most actor be miscast in their role . i do not know what it be about stuart townsend . he be a good actor but in most role he play he always feel out of place . perhaps it be his look and i do not know . this basically also be the reason why he get replace in the lord of the ring represent the fellowship of the ring . also thandie newton isn not much good and actually quite annoy in her trong female role . and what be the point of have melanie griffith in this . oh and i guess i could go on about the movie it casting and could complain even some more about the way too limited screen time the jamie foxx character get but i guess you get my point by now . damian nieman just isn not much of an original writer or director and on top of that he also doesn not handle his own material very well . scene often feel disjoint and it try to put in way too many character and everything about the movie be shallow and in a way predictable . on top of that the movie feature some bad editing at time and which also doesn not help to make this movie look like one seamless whole . the movie be also one major box office bomb and no wonder that damian nieman hasn not make a movie ever since . a too big mess to make you enjoy this movie . 4/10 .