The shrink gets so caught up in the arcane rules and world view of her guide over subsequent days that she observes--with no false rapture--various stings in progress inside and outside the club. Mamet's story finally becomes a fascinating study of two people protecting and extending their respective cosmologies the way rival predators fight for the same piece of turf. The psychological challenge is compelling; so is the stylised dialogue, with its pattern of pauses and hiccups and humming meter. Mostly shooting at night, Mamet also gave Seattle a different look from previous filmmakers, turning its familiar puddles into concentrations of liquid neon and poisonous noir. --Tom Keogh

DVD Description
It’s the shrink vs. the shark in the ultimate mind game! Starring Oscar nominee Lindsay Crouse (The Insider) and Joe Mantegna (Godfather III) as an unlikely team of con artists, this witty and devious psychological thriller is Oscar nominee David Mamet’s directorial debut. When a suicidal patient reveals that his gambling debt has him at the end of his rope, dedicated psychiatrist Margaret Ford (Crouse) enters into the shadowy underground world of gaming to help him out. At a seedy casino, she boldly confronts Mike (Mantegna), the con man who holds her patient’s markers. Duped into a high stakes poker match, Margaret becomes intoxicated by Mike’s mastery as he both cheats at the game and charms her. She quickly falls for him, turning a blind eye to the fact that he’s a swindler who can’t be trusted. And before long she finds herself sparring in a mental poker match of the heart … with deadly consequences.

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