411 – Rounders

For this week’s episode, we’re… dealing (sorry) a late 90s favorite that was meant to be a post-Oscar star vehicle and wound up a box office disappointment. After the Oscar and box office success of Good Will Hunting , the next stop on Matt Damon’s ascent to megastardom was to be Rounders , an NYC-set drama about high-stakes underground poker. Damon starred as a law student who once gave up the game but quit at the insistence of his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol), only to get pulled back in by his no-good childhood friend (Edward Norton). This episode, we talk about the film’s status as a cult favorite of sorts and the film’s palatable brand of machismo. We also discuss Norton’s Oscar nomination in the same year for American History X , Mol’s Vanity Fair It Girl cover, and John Malkovich giving goofy Russian accent. Topics also include Celebrity Poker Showdown, John Turturro in a bathhouse, and (eep) Famke Janssen on Nip/Tuck .