Frat boy wastes his precious daddy's college funds playing computer controlled online poker and wins a few bucks, so next thing, he is at the WPT at the championship table. Yeah, right...rolling my eyes. Burt Reynolds taught him how to get there; except we never get to see actual teaching. Our hero is naive with real poker and women, but thanks to Hollywood fantasy...he is the big winner. And Burt gets to make a comeback in the poker limelight. Oh, and our hero throws in the towel at the last minute so Burt can have his chance in the sun.Stupid, boring movie.

It feels like it would be more at home on the small screen rather than cinemas, There really isn't any suspense or tension. It tries, but never delivers. the movie's box office explain it all: the film cost $5 million to make, grossed less than $100,000 in theatrical release!! what a disaster, But I think "deal" was not that awful neither good, Had some good scenes like the scenes which take place at the poker table are very entertaining and well made. But if you don't like poker, you'll find this flick boring and the plot really stupid. The storyline was so predictable, I think a child could write that story! and got Burt Reynolds a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor!! HAHAHA thats tremendous, He's not deserving it!

"Deal" is the oldie about the retired card shark - who's sworn off the game for love of a good woman - who serruptitiously takes a promising young whippersnapper under his wing to train him in the fine art of high-stakes poker. Burt Reynolds is the leathery old pro and Bret Harrision his green, but cocky pupil who together head to Vegas and New Orleans for an intense session of training and instruction. But will Tommy be able to resist the lure of the tables and not mount a comeback of his own? And will we finally wind up with the card shark and the neophyte squaring off in a televised multi-million-dollar tournament to determine the very best poker player in the whole wide world? I'll see you and raise you on that bet.As a subject for film, poker is already one of the least compelling forms of competition there is, and "Deal" does little to rectify that situation. Moreover, the characters and plot lines are so hopelessly hackneyed and uninspired that we spend most of our time just waiting for the scenes to play themselves out. Harrison lacks charisma as the upstart newbie, but Reynolds brings a degree of gravitas to his overly-familiar role of a has-been trying to achieve the victory and personal glory he missed out on the first time around.But you'll wind up feeling as enervated as the players long before the final hand is played.

Before commenting on the film, I just want to say that Deal is not the bad film critics are bashing for apparent no reason, not even by far. It wasn't a masterpiece, but Deal was certainly entertaining for what it is: a light-weight, straight-forward drama/coming-of-age story that takes place in the world of Poker championships. The story doesn't need twists and turns. So what if you can see the ending coming by a mile?it was still great to watch Burt and Bret Harrison playing each other so well. With its short running time, Deal flows nicely. Not flashy or made on a huge budget, Deal delivered a good time nevertheless, and it was quite moving to see Burt Reynolds, one of the most criminally underestimated actors of Hollywood, back to the theaters playing a main part again. The man is seventy two now, but still holds his impressive charm and larger-than-life screen presence. To have lived the life he lived -being Number One Box Office actor for five years straight and then falling from grace and being destroyed by a serious of awful circumstances and career mistakes - gives Reynolds a living legend aura and certainly made me think that he is one of those last, great movie stars who won't get the recognition he deserves, that is, until the day he dies, but then it will be too late. It happened to Charles Bronson, it happened to Roy Scheyder, it happened to Rod Steiger: in the late phase of their careers, they were criminally forgotten and nighted, when they truly deserved the due respect.