Product Description

All bets are off in London's gambling world when struggling writer Jack Manfred (Gosford Park's Clive Owen) accepts his father's offer of a job as a croupier, out the cards of fate and fortune each night to casino patrons. As his relationship with his girlfriend, Marion (Notting Hill's Gina McKee), suffers from the strain of his new job, Jack finds his eye roving to a seductive gambler, Jani (ER's Alex Kingston), who lures him into a dangerous robbery scheme with Jack positioned as the inside man. A critical and commercial smash, this delicious British thriller from director Mike Hodges (Get Carter) and writer Paul Mayersberg (The Last Samurai) is a solid winner from start to finish!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11628 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-09
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com
Suffering from a bad case of writer's block, author Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) sits in his London flat, staring at an empty computer screen and trying to find the words to narrate his meandering life. Reluctantly Jack accepts a job from his absentee father (Nicholas Ball) at a second-rate casino as a dealer, or croupier, a job he once held in South Africa. His immersion back into this world is intoxicating, thanks primarily to the power he holds over his nightly clientele. Jack is a straight arrow on the floor (unlike his coworkers) but the whisper of an inside-job robbery makes his life suddenly more intriguing, as do the women who begin to drift into his life: a fellow croupier (Kate Hardie) and an alluring gambler (Alex Kingston). Suddenly, Jack finds his own life is his best book material. There's something visceral about watching the world of gambling, and director Mike Hodges (who directed the original Get Carter) taps into this allure; Jack's simple croupier tryout--handling cards and chips with skill and grace--is as captivating as most action scenes in big popcorn films. In the end, this little film, which went on to become an art-house hit, is as unpredictable as a roll of the dice. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

I, Croupier
This was a film I had bought on the basis that it concerned gambling. I believe it may have been a cross reference product when I purchased "The Cincinnati Kid". Clive Owen I was totally unfamiliar with as an actor. I had never heard of the film, yet it was rated well and relatively inexpensive. So, I took a chance when I ordered it from Amazon.
Well, to put it mildly, I won the Roulette number on this spin of the wheel! Croupier is an excellent picture for the narration of the private thoughts of the character overstriking everyday activities and the James Bond stylistics that form the background.
An ambitious author in search of the great novel is sidetracked by a career as a Croupier. Suddenly he discovers the best material for a book lay in that career and the people that surround him in real life. There is no waste in this film. It is cut almost as well as the greatest cut movie ever made "Casablanca" where not one scene is wasted. There are some violent scenes and I would say it is not for the young. The basic philosophy is the desire to "....the whole world over." (add curse word in front). This theme is repeated several times during the film.
Well, films about gambling and punters are always interesting. This is certainly one of the better ones.

Smart screenplay with no fat makes CROUPIER a winner for an earlier Clive Owen
Film Noir is one of my least favorite styles of cinema; but with a smart screenplay that is as lean as the prime cut filet and direction that makes every frame a perfect diamond,CROUPIER,Britain's look at the casino world, made me a winner for a 100 minutes.

Clive Owen is Jack Manfred, an author who is looking to score the big novel.One problem: he has writer's block.He is cajoled by his dad, Nicholas Ball, to take a job in a second tier London Casino as a croupier,or Black Jack dealer.There, Jack finds the source material for what will become his best seller and possibly destroy his life.

I found this film so much more tense than CASINO.It is a low key,slick, mesmerizing look at the dealer and the gambler.The film takes a great psychological look at the risk taker and the one who controls them.Owen is phenomenal in the role;a bit gaunt looking.Alex Kingston's performance as a gambler in big trouble is cool and calculated; every inhale/exhale of the cigarette is a marvel of self containment.

The only reason that I give it 4 stars is simply because I find the world of gambling,smoking,drinking and dishonesty not personally enjoyable to watch.Did I learn a lot? Oh yeah!

Get the DVD version with Mike Hodges' director's commentary
Nine years after its production, 'Croupier' is now remembered as the vehicle which shot Clive Owen into movie stardom...and rightfully so. He's mesmerizing here in Mike Hodges' taut adaptation of Paul Mayersberg's beguiling script. Mayersberg received an Edgar Allan Poe nomination for Best Screenplay. [NOTE: Amazon's sister site IMDB - in a delightfully goofy phonetic slip-up - notes that the Poe Awards "honor the achievements of writers in the field of mystery at all."]

Mayersberg's tale features layers of intricacies, secret deals, snitches, stories within stories, all presented to you by a narrator (Owen's Jack Manfred) who may or may not be leveling with you. Like countless others, I scrambled online to see if the IMDB chatboards would lead to a bit of resolution. The prevailing opinion there is that Mayersberg and Hodges have deliberately left some things subject to interpretation. Apparently, this conclusion is reinforced by the Director's commentary. One reviewer noted that re-watching Croupier with Hodges' commentary was "like watching an entirely different film." Unfortunately, we had a DVD without that track. My recommendation is to make sure you rent/buy the version of the product that comes with that DVD extra.