VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

LeonLouisRicci Okay, Now it makes some sort of Sense. After Seeing this Movie with a Cast of Quirky Stars and Cult Director Alex Cox, You might Scratch Your Head Raw Wondering, What the? But the Back(stabbing) Story is that the Director was Ambushed by the Producers. It Seems that They took the Finished Film, Re Edited, Added a Different Soundtrack and Released this Bomb to Non-Existent Audiences, Furious Critics, and Disappointment Everywhere. So Alex Cox Disowned the Film and Tried to have His Named Removed.Is the Abomination that was Released Worth a Watch? The Shortest Answer is...NO. That's a No with a Shout. Because it is Embarrassing. Nothing Seems to Work. The Usual Reliable Cast of Usually Interesting Actors All are Either Miscast or Appear to be Lost in this Muddle and Don't Know the Ending or Their Next Lines.The Few Standout Visuals are So Few that the Drudgery of Sitting Through the Odd Pacing and Unfunny Stuff is Not Worth the Effort. Like the Director, it is Best to not Acknowledge this Films Existence for the Sake of Everyone Involved.

lastliberal Rebecca De Mornay - yes! Vincent D'Onofrio - yes! Delroy Lindo - yes! Michael Madsen - yes! What more could you want in a movie.Put them in Vegas and give us a story about robbery, and you got me. yes, you got me - with a movie that just didn't seem to go anywhere. It just jumped all over the place and had no consistent theme.Wendy Riss is just not a scriptwriter, yet. Work some more and get it right.I expected much more from director Alex Cox, especially after the job he did with Rosario Tijeras. I was so disappointed.Not a winner!

dimitiii A finely tuned and taut script may have been laid to waste here by careless, directoral miscues.Philip (Vincent D'Onofrio) goes on a roulette winning streak in Las Vegas and discovers some hard lessons about faithfulness and betrayal. One of the central themes -- what happens to a person when he finds himself suddenly in the grips of material and financial wealth, and just as importantly, what happens to the recipient's so-called friends and acquaintances in relation to that recipient -- is worth conveying and, as a viewer, exploring in all its nuance and implications. The script certainly seems ready to achieve that -- not to mention there's a near-all-star cast to boot -- but in the hands of director Alex Cox, all the talent (both in terms of cast and script) seems to have been for naught. Cox directs with an uneven hand so that the movie lacks the tonal consistency it deserves. He also exhibits schmaltzy tendencies that move us away from the essence of the script -- it speaks volumes that the movie, which was originally titled "A Darker Purpose" (an acclaimed play by Wendy Riss, who also wrote the screenplay) got turned into a movie titled, well, "The Winner." One can't help but wonder then what would have become of this script if it had fallen into the right director's hands.

michaelbkelly This film had quite a bit going for it. Interesting premise... Alex Cox directing, Michael Madsen, Rebecca DeMournay, starring, Las Vegas setting..but,alas, it wasn't meant to be. I was bored throughout this film. I kept hoping that it would pick up. It just didn't! Must have looked good on paper, sure didn't on screen.