“Poker is math. Piles and piles of math.”
Dead Money starts with the hook viewers came looking for. The camera gracefully glides down from above a poker table, complete with chips, cards, drinks, and snacks. Andy (Emile Hirsch) gives us an opening speech that gives poker players hope for the rest of the film. He mentions ranges, stack sizes, and outs, promising us more depth than most poker movies deliver.
“Turn coming,” the dealer says, something I’ve never heard a dealer say before. After calling a $2,100 flop bet, the board is . Andy’s opponent squints, smiles, and shoves $16,500 into an unknown-sized pot. After some generic table talk, our hero calls, showing down for a pair of eights.
His disappointed opponent shows and begs the dealer for a red (even though Andy has no flush draw).
A comes on the river, and we’ve finished the first poker scene of Dead Money. It wasn’t the most elegant, but it keeps everything surface-level for any poker newcomers. There's still hope that this movie delivers.
Andy plays the next hand against an off-duty police officer, who buys in for $10,000, but receives well over $40,000 in chips from the skilled Dead Money prop department. First hand, he overbet shoves the river with and Andy pays him off, losing to two-pair.
Dead Money’s Deviation from Poker
IMDb’s description of Dead Money starts with four words about the star: “Professional poker player Andy.” We see this professionalism demonstrated immediately.
Ten minutes into the movie, Andy bets his full stack of around $18,000 on being able to stay conscious after a punch. The man who'll punch him is an ex-almost-pro boxer.
He doesn’t stay conscious, and then the home game is robbed by a trio of masked gunmen.
Post-robbery and knockout, Andy tells his girlfriend he’s in debt $15k, but just needs to “catch some cards” to be back on top. Just a short while into Dead Money, he is making Nik Airball look like the best poker player in the world.
Minute by minute, the dream of a good poker movie seems further and further away.
Much like Russel Crowe’s abysmal Poker Face movie from 2022, our beloved card game is used as extra flavor for a thriller movie. In Dead Money, poker is the seasoning for a dish you’ve had plenty of times. Take moves like Transporter or Fast & The Furious, XXX State of the Union, throw in Emile Hirsch with some poker jargon, and you’ve created Dead Money.
The Re-Robbery: A Defining Plot Moment
In Rounders, Matt Damon loses everything in an underground game, forcing him down a road of recovery and eventual triumph on the felt. The inciting incident happens on the felt, and its the felt that brings the story full circle in the end.
The inciting incident in this “poker movie” is not even poker-related. The poker game is robbed by masked thugs, just like in Killing Them Softly or The Sopranos. Andy returns to the scene later to get his girlfriend’s book bag, and stumbles across the robbery money. Naturally, he reclaims it.
This sets Dead Money down a path of traditional action thrillers, where poker is a side quest. In fact, Andy ponders taking a break from poker after finding the bag of cash.
The director seems to know that poker needs to be included, so it makes short appearances here and there.
After 40 minutes, our second game takes place. Andy faces a table of fish, and shows us a montage of winning before the game breaks.
Managing his bankroll like a true professional, Andy then takes his shot at a much higher-stake games, where we get to see Alan Keating. We're dying for some real poker, and maybe Keating will bring it.
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Alan Keating and The Golf Club Game
You’d hope that Alan Keating’s cameo in Dead Money injected something special into the movie.
Unfortunately, Alan has no lines, and his poker scene wraps up in a minute. He’s not even in the hand. Later, he watches Andy and a few guys play golf, then he’s off-screen for good—only to be seen at the next Hustler Casino live stream.
While Andy’s off shot-taking, his girlfriend is being held at gunpoint and can’t get to the phone. This doesn’t seem to bother Andy, even though he’s stolen a lot of money from some gangsters quite recently. He’s far too busy trying to convince us Dead Money is a poker movie, and that isn’t going to be easy.
From playing in this game and showing the audience a single win, Andy apparently rolls himself well enough to enter a $200/$400 private game. Onlookers might hope that Alan Keating is in this one, but he isn't.
The Final Parts of Dead Money
When we see Andy in the biggest game of his life, he's is killing it. We don’t really get to see how though, it's just implied through a montage. The early talk about ranges, math, and stack sizes—that was just opening chit chat. Instead, the audience gets a minute-long montage of Andy raking in chips as his opponents shake their heads in confusion.
Then, a twist! Bobby Kirkland (Brennan Brown) pours his water straight into the shuffle machine, pausing the game. As they replace the machine, he eyes it in a not-so-subtle way to let the audience know he’s up to something.
During the break, the gangsters Andy stole from catch up to him. It's a realistic movie, so they ask him for a realistic amount of money.
Actually, no. The thug demands that he runs his $200,000 stack up to half a million, in exchange for his girlfriend’s life.
Andy has about two hours to double up, plus some. Thankfully, the movie isn't going to last that long.
When the game resumes, Bobby is playing better than ever, and we get to see a little poker.
First, Andy bluffs the river with Ad5d, and Bobby wins with a pair of 7s on a board with two overcards. Our main character gets suspicious, wondering how he made such a call.
Then we’re multi-way. We see a flop, and on the turn, Bobby kicks in $10,000 to a $50,000 pot. The player to Bobby’s left calls, and Andy looks down at . He raises to $22,000, Bobby calls, and the nameless third player is out. A on the river gives Andy the third nuts, behind and .
Bobby checks, and Andy starts yapping.
“No," Andy says flatly. "Everything says bet, right? Math, GTO, stats, bet huge. But my spidey sense is tingling, screaming at me. I check.”
Bobby shows , and now, Andy thinks he's probably being cheated.
Bobby has been glancing obviously at his watch before acting, making Mike Postle look like a professional cheater.
With about ten minutes left until midnight, Andy is feeling the pressure. His girlfriend’s life is half an orbit away from being lost, and he needs to bank half a million from the game.
Next, Andy's involved in a big pot with an open-ended straight flush draw ( on ), and he calls a turn bet.
The river is a against Bobby, and his cheating poker nemesis goes all in.
“I have garbage,” Andy admits to Bobby. “Less than nothing. But you know what, let’s gamble. I call.”
“What did you just say?” Bobby asked, stunned.
"I said call, motherf***er,” Andy triumphantly replied.
Amazing script writing on this one. Shakespeare would have wept.
Bobby shows for a busted straight and flush draw, then accuses Andy of cheating. But when pressed, he backs down, since he’s the one cheating.
The rest of the movie is a predictable closure. In fact, I wrote this sentence before watching it.
Andy brings the money back to his girlfriend and the thugs, where the bad guys celebrate momentarily. A twist is guaranteed to happen, and sure enough, it does.
The robbers shoot each other after a disagreement about cash, that’s that.
Andy and his girlfriend drive away with half a million dollars into the sunset.
Honest Review of Dead Money
This is not a review of a poker movie. This is a review of a surface-level thriller with occasional poker scenes.
It was smart to promote this movie as a poker movie, though. If Dead Money had not chosen to brand itself as a poker movie, it would be swimming in a sea of far more watch-worthy thrillers.
Speaking as a poker player, this movie misses the mark. A poker player who watches Dead Money, having been promised a poker movie, should expect one. But, the director and screenwriter don’t deliver. There are about five hands of poker that the audience gets to see, none of which have you on the edge of your seat.
Dead Money is not a complete waste of 90 minutes. It definitely outclassed Russel Crowe’s Poker Face, but that is not a feat worth congratulating. It is watchable, but don’t go searching for depth or an enthralling storyline.
Other Sources Review Dead Money (2024)
Unfortunately, but predictably, Dead Money was not met with praise after it released in September 2024.
- IMDb: 5.8/10 ⭐
- Rotten Tomato: 31%
- Google Users: 42% liked the film
- Punch Drunk Critics: 2.5/5 ⭐ – "The main issue is the film seems like two movies spliced together."
- Roger Ebert: 2/4 ⭐ – "Devoid of the kind of seasoning that might have made it into something far more memorable."
- LetterBoxd: 2.9/5 ⭐
Dead Money’s Flaws & Why Poker Players Won’t Enjoy It
For those who want to see exactly why Dead Money is barely watchable, I’ll list the shortcomings here (in no particular order of egregiousness).
You Won’t Care About the Characters
One major shortcoming of Dead Money was the lack of depth, and not just in the poker department. Even if we wanted to become emotionally attached to Andy’s development and success as the main character, Dead Money never gives us a reason to. The most it provides is showing us a struggling poker player, which is not enough to draw in the audience.
Let’s start with the obvious. The opening scene of Rounders shows us a riveting poker scene, but there are also tons of character-building first.
Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) tucks his girlfriend in, collects his bankroll, and heads to a shady basement poker room. You can basically smell the carpet and cigarette smoke through the screen. A close friend tries to talk him out of playing, giving us a sense of the risk and the camera pans around the table slowly, giving us a sense of competition and elapsed time.
Mike narrates about the game type, fortunes being won or lost, and the mental side of the game. He doesn’t start by talking about math, GTO, and ranges, like Andy in Dead Money.
Forget the silly bet sizes for a moment, and this opening game of Rounders is believable. The scene and the soundtrack sucks us in, as does Teddy KGB, Mike’s nemesis for the movie. Even with the odd pauses for Oreo munching and the half-assed Russian accent, he’s more interesting than any character in Dead Money.
Even while Andy’s girlfriend is tied up and kidnapped by gangsters, it evokes little from the audience. Neither tension nor worry comes from these scenes, because we know nothing about the characters’ motivations or personalities.
All we know about the main character is that he plays poker, and is struggling financially.
All we know about his girlfriend is that she goes to school and loves Andy.
The other characters are even less revealed to us. The director (Luc Walpoth) is mostly known for short movies, this could explain the lack of focus on character development.
You Won’t Enjoy the Poker
Part of the reason that the poker in Dead Money is so boring is because of the lack of interest in the characters. We don’t care about them, so we don’t care if they win or lose. Even with Alan Keating making a short cameo, his time is not well spent, and he adds nothing to the movie.
The other reasons walk hand in hand to deliver the lackluster poker scenes. Uninteresting camera angles, unconvincing acting, and an affliction for “gotcha” moments. Usually, we get a poker montage, then a hand where the main character easily beats his opponent. Camera angles flick from face close-up to table, to face close-up, with nothing that truly grips us.
There’s also a tangible feeling of fakery. Very early on, Andy tells us poker is about math, GTO, and ranges. We see one time or two times where any math is spoken about afterwards, and none of the other complex strategic elements ever show up. To be fair, actors do not have to be poker players, but their job is to convince us they are.
In Dead Money, Andy does not convince us. He manages his bankroll badly, pays off fish when massively overbet the river, and gets knocked out cold during silly side bets. We’re asked to believe he is a professional, but that’s an impossible request, given what we see.
A redeeming factor is the final poker hand, where Andy calls the cheater’s all-in with ten-high. Although this was a ridiculous action, it was nice to see a final poker hand where the characters don’t beat full houses with straight flushes.
In reality, Andy’s would be beaten by a wide range of hands, including made hands, weak aces, missed and straight draws, or random lower pairs. But, this is a movie.
You’ll Know Exactly What Happens, Before It Happens
Twists are not Dead Money’s strength. We know Emile Hirsch’s character will eventually triumph, and not only because his character arc follows Mike McDermott’s (in a far more simplified form).
A struggling poker player loses it all, experiences girlfriend problems, and mixes with organized crime, only to come out on top in a poker game and walk away on top. Does that plot sound familiar?
Andy’s enemies in Dead Money are portrayed as dullards, blindly extorting the main character without finesse. Unlike Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, there’s no mystique about Dead Money’s villains.
They are simple, classic bad guys with guns. We know nothing about their motivations or history, except that they want money.
Dead Money lacks the element of wonder, and this predictability infects everything, from the poker to the plot.
See what I thought of other poker movies by visiting the pages below. Whether you agree or disagree, let us know on X/Twitter and suggest another poker movie for us to review here on GipsyTeam. Happy watching!
