Disappointing end or not this is well worth a watch and always going to be worth it for a late great showing from Jeff Bridges, and those 60s songs where even just a line or two can be surprisingly effective, indeed it is 'strange how potent cheap music is. The film is certainly some fifteen minutes too long and there is simply too much time allowed for Chris Hemsworth to unconvincingly develop his character and similarly with Lewis Pullman who had been great as the hapless bellboy cum hotel manager but with whom we spend a little too long in the end. Things really only go wrong, for me, in the last half hour. The lead character, Sam Ace Rothstein, is a seasoned gambler who gets asked to manage a Las Vegas casino. Is it the hotel that is weird or just the people? Jon Hamm is great in the early stages and looked a bit like a young Robert de Niro. Directed by Martin Scorsese, this 1995 film is based on a true story. beautifully shot and confidently and surely constructed to have us spellbound but not fully aware of just what is going on. Everett Collection (3) Will Smith in Men in Black Daniel Craig in Casino Royale Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man Leaving Dec. For the most part this is a really good, if not excellent film, with a fantastic central performance from Jeff Bridges, ably supported with an equally compelling performance from Londoner Cynthia Erivo who I recently saw in Stephen King's The Outside TV series.
