THE CARD COUNTER

Let me preface this review by stating to avoid this film, which is a real shame as I am a fan of Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe, Paul Schrader, and Martin Scorsese (who was a producer on this film). But this story was painful to get through all 112 minutes of it. It's a slow, dry film that just drifts from scene-to-scene. At first I gave it some time, allowing itself to establish and then open up with the story but it never does that. It just continues to flow through it's monotonous tone for the duration of the film. Isaac plays William Tell, a former military interrogator trying to extract intelligence from supposed terrorist at a blacklist site. Pictures of him and colleagues torturing inmates are made public and as such, the soldiers pictured take the fall, not any of their superiors, so he's an ex-con as well. While in prison, he learns to count cards and upon his release, uses his newfound skill to his advantage. Although, he's able to evade the ire of casinos in that his winnings are modest and not high dollar. Tiffany Haddish also stars as La Linda, who sponsors William in tournaments in exchange for a cut of his winnings. The pairing and forced romance between the two is awkward, with none to little chemistry shared between them. Unless you're having difficulty sleeping at night, avoid this snoozefest. 3/10