Four Dogs Playing Poker (2000)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I bought this DVD for 2 euro 90 at a gas station. So my expectations where not that high. When i buy a movie like this with some famous actors, I don't expect it to be good, but you never know. Am i watching a mistake of a famous actor. I really love Forest Whittaker, and after watching the movie nothing is changed about that. He probably red the script and saw the possibilities. Anyway Looking from this angle, i always expect to stop halfway the DVD and continue doing something else. Because the price was so cheap, that there would be no other option than a bad movie This movie is indeed not fantastic, the acting is poor and over the top, but it is a movie which keeps you watching. In fact i felt some fear watching the end. So my 2 euro 90 where well spent. But i do agree that the end result could have been much better. Intriguing movie, not very well done, but amusing and worth watching! I still try to understand if i understood the whole movie. But who cares for 2 euro 90

1st watched 4/24/2005 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Paul Rachman): Interesting idea for a story, but a flawed execution hamper this movie from becoming a good watch from beginning to end. It begins with a heist of an expensive statue from an art collector in which the gang; comprised of 4 so-called friends and a professional thief(played by Tim Curry); are supposed to be handsomely rewarded when the object reaches it's destination. In the next 5 days, they meet the gangster(played by Forest Whitaker) who they need to pay-off if the statue is not received. The thief kills himself and they then begin to wonder if the statue will ever reach it's destination. In the midst of the uncertainty, they devise a plan so that at least 3 out of the 4 should get off scot-free, if all goes well, but the 4th will be dead and the rest will collect off his 1million dollar insurance policy(which is the amount the gangster needs if the statue doesn't get to it's destination). The problem of the movie is the predictability in which the characters are portrayed. Olivia Williams, who plays Audrey, is the most predictable and the least well-played. The others do an OK job, but their characters pretty much show us what their demise will be. Without giving away too much more, I'll leave it at this and let you decide if you want to watch the movie to see how it ends up. Not a bad movie, just a little too predictable.

This could have been a good little thriller.Don't blame the writers for the awful execution of what could have been a great movie.The director re-wrote it. Badly.A music video director of modest talent was given a great opportunity here.When will Hollywood stop giving guys who've never shot a word of dialogue or told a story a chance to make films.Usually all flash with no story telling skills. This film doesn't even have any of the flash you might expect from a music video.Very talented actors were wasted on this one.

What's the concept behind the painting "Four Dogs Playing Poker"? Poker is a game of luck, but winning involves bluffing, lying, and aggressiveness. Dogs think they can handle these human traits, but they're just dogs. Predictable. Emotional. Easy tells.This movie is about four childhood friends who are all in danger of dying. To save themselves, they concoct a scheme to sacrifice one of them for the sake of the others. But they want to keep things anonymous to alleviate guilt, and that's where they stop trusting each other. Like four dogs playing poker, trying to figure out the other dogs' motives, not knowing who to trust...The details sometimes fall by the wayside in order to set up this very interesting idea, but I found the story itself to be gripping. I had to watch the whole thing to see what happened.Can you trust YOUR childhood friends if all your lives were on the line?