Why you can trust GamesRadar+
Opening to coincide with the BFI’s re-release of Get Carter, Croupier is British director Mike Hodges’ first feature for nearly 10 years. Written by Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth), this atmospheric and enigmatic gambling thriller centres on Jack (Owen), a struggling writer who reluctantly becomes a croupier in a London casino.
After-hours temptations – drink, drugs and casual sex – soon begin to put a strain on his relationship with store-detective girlfriend (McKee), and gradually Jack finds himself drawn into helping Jeni (Kingston), a South African gambler who’s apparently in serious debt to a gang of criminals.
Unfolding in an underground, hall-of-mirrors world populated by con-artists, inveterate liars and hustling card-sharks, Croupier is piece of slick, economical film-making. Minus points include some less than convincing dialogue and underwritten female characters, but Owen contributes a poised central performance and there’s a delicious final Oedipal twist.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
Extraction shooter Exoborne's extreme weather makes the world "a playground of verticality, unexpected discoveries, and dangerous combat spaces"
Marvel fans are debating whether the MCU's new big bad Doctor Doom should be introduced in other projects before Avengers: Doomsday
Disney star says he could have played Jake Sully’s best friend in Avatar but James Cameron had to let him go because he looked like a "tall overweight Smurf"