Film Review: The Croupier (dir. M. Hodges, 1998)

This Clive Owen film is one of those elaborate set-up movies where you know the lead character is being set up, all along, but you don't know by whom and for what purpose. The clues are all there, but, even in the end, I'm not sure that I understand the set-up, and I'm pretty sure that Jack, the Owen character, doesn't get it, either.

"Jack" is a writer suffering from writer's block; he needs money so he takes a job in a casino as a dealer ("croupier"), which he knows how to do based on a misspent youth following around his gambler father in South Africa. Indeed, it's his father who calls to tell him that he's set up the job at the casino. Jack takes the job after demonstrating his crazy card skillz for Mr. Reynolds, the casino manager. Jack's girlfriend Marion, former police detective and now store detective, dislikes his new job. Many things happen at the casino: He meets other dealers, all of whom have problems of various sorts. Jack also meets a beautiful South African named Jani (the beautiful Alex Kingston) at his table. He later runs into her outside the casino, and she asks him if he would like to have a drink. That is, of course, against the rules, but he agrees. Later, Jani asks him to help her "creditors" rob the casino. Jack initially refuses, but the offer of ten thousand pounds, in advance, overcomes his resistance. When Jani calls to tell jack when the deal is going down, Marion deletes the message from the answering machine. (BTW--who leaves such a message on a machine, anyway? Amateurs.) Jack is confused when the robbery starts--although his part in the events is minimal, anyway--and the plot fails; all the robbers are caught by Mr. Reynolds and his henchmen. Marion turns up dead a few days later; Jack is informed by a former colleague of Marion's that Marion told him that she was on to a robbery at the casino. Jack gets a bonus at work, from Mr. Reynolds, and never gets caught.

In the meantime, Jack has been writing a book about being a croupier, from the perspective of a character named "Jake." There is some confusion between Jack and Jake, and Jack himself is never sure if he's himself or the character he's describing in the novel he's writing. In the end, Jack anonymously publishes a book, "I, Croupier," which becomes a bestseller. But he realizes he's a one-book writer and stays on at the casino, where he admits he's hooked--on watching the "punters" lose.

Also in the end, Jack gets a call from Jani, who's returned to South Africa and is going to get married--to Jack's father.

My theory of the film: Jack's shady father, Jani, and Mr. Reynolds are all in the plot. They don't want to actually rob the casino; they want to get rid of someone or another who would like to rob the casino. The best way to get rid of these other people--who they are, I have no idea--is to set them up. But to do that, they need a patsy. Jack's father thinks Jack would be the perfect straight man for this operation and plays him like the proverbial violin. When Marion catches on, she has to be eliminated.

Not an altogether unsatisfying caper movie, if a bit complex for about 90 minutes running time. I'm also not 100% sure about the end, when we see Jack with former croupier Bella. Their relationship strikes me as inexplicable. But, then again, I don't get any of the male-female relationships in this movie. So, not bad, but not great, either.