Thursday, February 27, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: Poolhall Junkies knows all the angles

By William Greene Raley

From how many different angles can you shoot a pool table, the balls, the cues, the players? From as many as you see in Poolhall Junkies and no more. That's what it's all about, really--angles of shots, of hustles, of emotion, of romance. And being able to put them all together when your life and your wallet depend on it.

These are the struggles facing Johnny (Mars Callahan). Joe (Chazz Palminteri) is basically the anti-Christ of pool backers. He helps Johnny on occasion, protecting him from pros who try to hustle him and building up his self-confidence. But Joe's only looking out for Joe; he even throws Johnny's invite to a prestigious pool tournament in the trash.

When Johnny finds out, 15 years later, he is severely pissed. In between jobs as the worst construction worker in history and as a motorhome salesman, he deals with other problems--he's on the skids with girlfriend Tara (Alison Eastwood), since he was out with the guys all night instead of having dinner with her. Hey, it's not like it was her birthday or something. No wait, it was her birthday. Pool hall manager Nick (Rod Steiger) gives Johnny an ultimatum: "Step out, step up and see what the fuck you got."

At an office party, Johnny finally gets a break in the person of Mike (Christopher Walken), who agrees to be Johnny's new backer. Oh, he's also Tara's uncle. They hustle Tara's boss, to her benefit, but Johnny doesn't tell her. What a guy. Alas, Joe's the jealous type and breaks Johnny's hand (he's in a cast up to his elbow). Tara asks him what happened. "I cut myself shaving."

Enter Brad (Rick Schroder), Joe's new protégé. If you thought he was a badass on "NYPD Blue," you ain't seen nothin' yet. I'm not gonna tell you what Johnny's little brother Danny (Michael Rosenbaum) did to table four, but Brad makes him wish he hadn't. Later that night, when you see Nick beyond the pool hall environs, you know it's trouble. He and the guys inform Johnny that not only does Danny owe Brad and Joe some major cash, but he made a pathetic attempt at robbing a jewelry store and is in jail. But not to worry--Johnny's got a whole 24 hours to put the world back on its axis.

So off comes the cast (ouch!) and on goes the game face. But Johnny's soon down $10K. Chris (Anson Mount) tells him, "OK, you're covered." "I'm covered? What the hell kind of ATM have you got?" Then Mike shows up with his briefcase full o' Franklins and things really get interesting.

NFL quarterback John Elway became famous for The Drive. Monica Lewinsky became famous for The Dress. Those are nothing compared with The Shot. Nine ball against the rail, cue ball flush against the nine. Impossible, right? Maybe Johnny makes it and maybe he doesn't.

Excellent casting and acting all around, especially with respect to Steiger and Mount. Their performances are so natural, so transparent, it's more like Callahan grabbed them off the street than cast them.

Not a lot of special effects here, just the right amount of strobe and slow motion. It's not always easy to tell who's hustling whom; sometimes even they don't know. In the final analysis, though, the only thing the players are hustling is reality. As is Mars Callahan. Which is something we all should aspire to.