Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!
The best of UK straight to your inbox
We help you navigate a myriad of possibilities. Sign up for our newsletter for the best of the city.
By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.
Awesome, you're subscribed!
Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!
By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.
Awesome, you're subscribed!
Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!
By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.
Sidney (Hall) - old, well-kept - approaches a roadside café. John (Reilly) - young, down-and-out - is slumped in front of the joint. Sidney offers John cigarettes and coffee, $50 and a ride to Vegas, and advice on playing the money at the crap tables. Reno, two years later, and the stakes have doubled. John's making a steady living gambling under Sidney's tutelage; he's also hooked up with Clementine (Paltrow), a cocktail waitress who turns tricks on the side. Outside Sidney's orbit is John's pal Jimmy (Jackson), a small-time hood with scant respect for Sidney - a catalyst for trouble. There's a timeless quality to this first feature (from the director of Boogie Nights): while owing particular debts to the low-life worlds of '40s B-movies and '70s neo-noir, it could have been made almost any time in the last 50 years. But it's in no way a pastiche. With a smart, savvy, but unshowy script and quietly confident direction, this is a subtle, understated reworking of noir conventions. Jackson and Paltrow both prove their talents as character actors; Reilly brings a credible, wide-eyed fecklessness to his part; and Baker Hall is a revelation.
Release Details
Duration:101 mins
Cast and crew
Director:Paul Thomas Anderson
Screenwriter:Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast:
Philip Baker Hall
John C Reilly
Samuel L Jackson
Gwyneth Paltrow
F William Parker
Advertising
Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.
By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.
🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!
Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!