If you are a pool aficionado you will LOVE it! If you are a Movie Critic you will be on the fence. The film has the potential to be a really good movie, it just needs a do over. The story is there, but it has a lot of weak spots, primarily in some situations and the dialog. Rick Schroeder does a nice job, but, does the 13th ranked pool player in the country really get hooked up with the likes of Joe for nickel and dime cash? The story indicates that Johnny quit pool for "a long time". The movie does not let that come across. It feels more like a few weeks. Johnny comes home from playing the pro, missed his girls birthday but she has sex with him and proceeds to be angry in the morning. Does a drug dealer with tons of back up really head out to his car with a brief case filled with money, alone? Does Johnny really need Nick to tell him how to play a shot "It's a 2 Rail Safety, Your right, thanks Nick" Really? Watch the movie and judge for yourself. if you love pool, you will like the movie.

This is one of those rare movies that grows on me after multiple viewings. Being an avid pool player, and holding movies like "The Hustler" (and to a lesser extent) "The Color of Money" as the all time pool classics, I didn't even pay mind to this movie until eight years after its release. And with that said, it keeps the tradition of pool hall hustling and gambling alive for Generation Xers and Yers.I admit upon first viewing there were too many distracting flaws that overwhelmed my ability to enjoy it. However, once I was able to look past its inconsistencies and get to the essence of the story and the characters, I found it to be an energetic and inspired work with some great (however small) performances by Rick Schroder, Chazz Palimenteri, Christopher Walken, and the late, great, Rod Steiger.There is no doubt that die hard pool aficionados will find the game sequences to be outlandish and exaggerated. But if I recall, so were many of the scenes in "The Hustler" and "The Color of Money". After all, this is an action movie glorifying pocket billiards. It's not an instructional video.Whether or not you really love the game of pool, the art of hustling, the risk of high stakes gambling, and the resulting camaraderie that hanging around a pool hall can bring, give this movie a try or two. I think you'll ultimately enjoy it.

Seriously. This entire film was a bunch of incredibly contrived garbage. Alison Eastwood acts like a piece of wood. The writer/director/star of this movie couldn't act or write or direct.Case in point, this ridiculous mini-scene at an RV lot: "I'll bet you (something ridiculous) I can tell you where you got your shoes." "Yeah, where?" "You got your left shoe on your left foot and your right shoe on your right foot." (Cut to next scene, with the con accomplished.) What a load of crap! Anyone who has ever been to New Orleans knows that old line.I believe that this is a bold cinematic misadventure. This film is terrible on every level. I would encourage the filmmaker to cut his losses and go back to barber college or clown school or anything that requires him NOT to be in front of or behind the camera.

I don't know why I like this movie. But, I do. The whole quiet as a church line is retarded, I cringe every time it is said. I can't believe no one else brought that up. The shots are not all that hard, and if you watch closely some are unwarranted. Why take a fancy, hard shot when you have a duck in the corner. Your opponent will realize you are a good shot and that they are being hustled. Anyone who watched the hustler or color of money knows that you have to let the opponent think they are better than you. Pulling off crazy shots will impress them and make them not want to bet. Also, they make it sound like this guy has never left his hometown. If he is the "god of pool", why would anyone play him for money? All that said, I still like this movie and have watched it several times and will probably watch it in the future. I guess it is my guilty pleasure movie. Everyone's got one, this one is mine.