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Hard Eight (1996)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
6/21
6/21:
Hard Eight is a big nothing, but I'm going to give Paul Thomas Anderson a break because it's his first major film.
Obviously, the talent is there, and he knows how to draw me in. Yet the longer the movie goes on, the more nowhere
it is. I've always said this: to end a story, the easiest and therefore the wimpiest way out is suicide. That's how it
happened for Philip Baker Hall's character.
No matter what, the acting is well-done, and it's difficult to find any flaw among the players. The problem is
everybody is in Las Vegas and it's a city of seedy, low-IQ people. It's what the characters of Hard Eight essentially
are. Therefore, I'm not surprised at the stupid mistakes they've made.
Because of the cast, I thought Boogie Nights was made first, but it's actually the other way
around. So, yes...some went on to appear in the more famous film: Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, and Robert Ridgely. In case if you don't know what the phrase "hard eight" means, it's the result of two fours in craps.
The odds of such a payout is higher, but everybody is better off getting a job as they'll make the same amount
of money in a short time as opposed to losing it all in probably ten seconds of play.
All in all, Hard Eight is a decent start for Paul Thomas Anderson who proves himself a capable writer-director,
but the movie is only for serious fans of the people involved.