Croupier
Rental DVD

Distributed by
VCI

Cert:

Cat.no: FDVD 080

Running time: 90 minutes

Year: 1998

Pressing: 2001

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 16 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Surround (DD2.0)

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £n/a

Extras: Trailers, Audio Description

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Director:

Mike Hodges (Black Rainbow, Croupier, Flash Gordon, Get Carter, Morons from Outer Space, A Prayer for the Dying, Pulp, The Terminal Man, TV: Dandelion Dead)

Producer:

Jonathan Cavendish and Christine Ruppert

Screenplay:

Paul Mayersberg

Music:

Simon Fisher-Turner

Cast:

Jack Manfred: Clive Owen
Giles Cremorne: Nick Reding
Jack Snr: Nicholas Ball
David Reynolds: Alexander Morton
Marion Nell: Gina McKee
Bella: Kate Hardie
Jani de Villiers: Alex Kingston
Girl with Joint: Rhona Mitra

A Croupier isn't what Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) would choose to do as a primary profession. He's an author by trade, but having been asked to write a tired story about a football club, he'd rather put together a script about something of which he knows a lot more.

His father (Nicholas Ball) gets him a job at a local casino, the Golden Lion, as a croupier, a job that Jack first tried while living out in South Africa and rather good he became at it too. He makes a favourable impression on his new boss, David Reynolds (Alexander Morton), by appearing to stick to the harsh staff rules imposed upon him, such as keeping his nose clean on the job and not dating any of the female staff.

I say he appears to because he gets an offer from South African and apparently-wealthy gambler Jani de Villiers (played by the British Alex Kingston - and yes, at one point she goes nude) to take part in a robbery on the casino for which he will be paid £20,000, but his part in the proceedings will be comparatively small. It's just the subsequent repercussions he has to worry about afterwards.

There's decent support from Gina McKee as Jack's girlfriend Marion and a smaller role for the sexpot of the casino, Bella (Kate Hardie), as well as a brief cameo for ex-Lara Croft girl Rhona Mitra as "Girl with Joint" at a party and someone's clearly overdubbed her voice for that part.

Let Him Have It's Nick Reding takes on a reliable role as the ne'er do well of the club, Giles, but just really repeating the same kind of behaviour he normally does on film. Finally, Clive Owen does turn in a good perfomance, even if it's only playing exactly the same role he always does too.

Croupier is an engaging 90 minutes, but it's far from one that'll change your life. I could write more about it, if there was more to say that wouldn't spoil the plot. It's a film you can sit down to and just let happen in front of you.

The picture is pleasing but not outstanding. It certainly does the job though and is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 and anamorphic. I have no particular complaints with it.

The Dolby Surround sound is fine, but it's not a film that requires much more to bring forth the casino ambience.

For a rental DVD, there's not much in the way of extras that relate to the film in question. First up, you get a couple of trailers for other FilmFour productions, neither of which can be accessed from the main menu. These only play, normally, when you first put the disc in the player, unless you're using a DVD-ROM player or can access individual titles on the DVD. Also, we have a feature-length Audio Description track, like having every non-dialogue part spoken out loud.

The menu that you do get is static and silent and offers just the choice of English subtitles and 'play movie', but while there are 16 chapters to the film there's no scene selection menu.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002