Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

suzanne-sellers I caught this movie on a lazy Sunday morning. I admit I had never heard of Stu Ungar, but this film made me want to learn more about him. Michael Imperioloi is fabulous as Stu, as are all the supporting characters. The film presents Stu as just a nice Jewish boy from NY - a sweet, moral guy really, but a guy with a bad addiction. How he manages to rise to the heights of his profession, then fall, over and over, makes for a terrific character study.I'm surprised by people who say this movie is horrible, dreadful, etc. Its fantastic, and I'm not even interested in gambling or gamblers. Its really about addiction, and how it can destroy a tremendous talent, whatever that talent may be.High Roller is so much better than Casino, which overplays its hand, so to speak, with over the top violence, one dimensional characters, drawn out marital spats, stereotyped situations. High Roller has some of that also, but in smaller doses and a very watchable 110 minutes. Imperioli lifts the whole film up with his well-rounded performance of Stu.Don't listen to the critics. High Roller is as satisfying as a great episode of The Sopranos.

jtdeible-1 Well, the movie was no terrible, but whomever created the screen play did not do a good job of even creating the essence of unger. This movie was slightly below average and did not tell the story correctly on one of the most interesting persons ever born. I suggest reading the book "one of a Kind" the real unger story. They left out huge parts of his life. They also at times did not understand the real caractor that he was. The actual facts of his life were at times out of order. And in the end they really did not portray the actual personality that he did have. So please don't watch the movie; read the book. By the way I'm not just some prick who feels you have to stay 100% to the real story, but they did not even come close!!!

jpoling3 How does this movie suck? As a fan of Michael Imperioli's work on The Sopranos I picked this up at Blockbuster based on his name and a story that sounded like it had promise. It still does, but this movie doesn't fulfill it.Every turn of the story is entirely predictable; I kept looking for the Lifetime bug on the bottom right corner of the screen. It's all there: the noble woman coming out of hard times, the guy failing to live up to his potential despite her best efforts, the kid who gets stuck in the middle, etc., etc., etc. The mysterious stranger's identity is what really made me want to throw stuff at the TV -- I would have been more satisfied with little Stuey waking up and realizing it was all a dream.The filmmakers may as well have had a "The moral of the story is..." bit before the credits, since as another reviewer pointed out this thing really does roll like an afterschool special. Don't gamble, don't drink, don't do drugs, stay with your wife, spend time with your kids...come on, how about a little nuance? How about some interesting bad guys? Writer/director A.W. Vidmer should be singled out for special notice: not only is the dialogue leaden, the pacing (within dialogue and at either end of many scenes) makes this movie at least 45 minutes longer than it needs to be (and believe me, it feels like longer). The talents of Imperioli, Renee Faia and some of the supporting cast (Steve Schirripa, natch) are the only things that keep this from a "1" rating. All of their good work is nearly offset, though, by the atrocious job of portraying the boy Stuey. Not sure if it was a casting mistake (hey -- it's a mob movie, so let's cast someone from Blue's Clues who can't do anything but over-overact with a big fake grin...next let's cast the sullen, brooding kid in the Disney flick) or just awful directing but those scenes are really painful to watch.I'd be interested in another filmmaker's take on this character and his story; it's a shame Imperioli has already been used up by this flick. Awful, awful, awful.

Trane Video This movie was well acted and kept my interest in the main character for the entire movie. Stu Unger lived an extraordinary life. Imagine if Stu were alive today! This movie paints a picture of what Stu Unger's life might have felt like. It was interesting to see how connected was growing up. I would have liked to seen more detail on Stu's partying, his gamesmanship and his relationship to Bob Stupak. But all in all, this movie was well done, well acted and the story touched on many facets of a life that was full of many events that were larger than life.This movie is worth renting.