Review of Bookies (2003) by Japes . — 12 Aug 2010

I enjoyed the movie and I got really into it...however there were some things I really didn't like. Most of the characters were really unlikable. The only character I actually cared about was Stahl's. Rachael Leigh Cook's character was really stuck up and self absorbed. Then there was Stahl's friend who was so obnoxious and did the stupidest things. I was kind of hoping he had gotten shot by the other gamblers. I also didn't really love the character Stahl played, he was too serious and didn't have much of a personality at all. I really like Nick Stahl as an actor, but I don't think this was his best performance.

The other thing I did not like about this movie was the narrator aspect of it. I guess it's just me, but I don't like a narrator telling me what is going on and giving me worthless background information that I really don't need to know in order to understand the movie. I'm not stupid, I get what's happening.

Then there was the ending. There was a little twist that was fun, but at the very end *SPOILER*, they aren't friends anymore and his "girlfriend" (I don't know if you even consider Cook's character a girlfriend to Stahl seeing as how they never showed any chemistry whatsoever) might not be his "girlfriend" anymore? The girlfriend bit was my last concern. If Cook and Stahl were supposed to be girlfriend/boyfriend they could've kissed or hugged at least once throughout the movie. I mean seriously. They didn't even look like good friends in the movie...what was the director trying to do there? They could've taken Cook's character out completely and it wouldn't have made the slightest difference in the movie. It just confused me. If they just added Cook's character in there just to add a bit of romance to the story........it didn't work.

I probably would not watch this movie again, but I really did enjoy it. The ending just disappointed me, I was hoping for something bigger and spectacular to happen.