Poker Face
Poker Face
A yearly high-stakes poker game between childhood friends turns into chaos when the tech billionaire host unveils an elaborate scheme to seek revenge for the ways they've betrayed him over the years. But as his plans unfold, a group of thieves hatch plans of their own breaking into the mansion thinking it is empty. The old friends quickly band together and the years of playing the game help them win their way through a night of terror.
Manuel Frangis reviewedJune 10, 2025
I just watched Poker Face and I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This movie honestly caught me off guard in the best way. I went in expecting a stylish poker-centered thriller with some betrayal and maybe a few twists, but what I got was way deeper and darker than that. It’s not just about poker or money — it’s about secrets, legacy, trust, and what people leave behind. Russell Crowe directs and stars in it, and you can feel his fingerprints on everything. There’s this quiet tension that builds the whole time, and by the end, I was surprised by how personal it all felt.
Crowe plays Jake Foley, a tech billionaire who invites his childhood friends to a high-stakes poker game at his massive private estate. At first, it feels like he’s just showing off his wealth — the fancy art, the security, the custom cards. But you quickly realize something more is going on. He’s dying. He knows it. And this game isn’t really a game at all. It’s a setup. He wants to expose who’s been honest, who’s been selfish, and who deserves his trust when he’s gone. It’s almost like a will written in poker chips.
That emotional core is what makes the movie hit harder than I expected. The setup is slick, but it’s the relationships between the characters that really pull you in. These guys have a history. You can feel the weight of things unsaid — old betrayals, regrets, moments they’d all rather forget. Some of them are still chasing the past, while others are hiding from it. It reminded me that the people you grow up with don’t always grow with you. That tension is real, and it makes everything in the second half of the movie explode even more.
The performances are solid across the board. Crowe brings this heavy, grounded presence. You can tell Jake has lived a hard life even with all the money. Liam Hemsworth, RZA, and the rest of the cast all add their own flavor, and it’s cool how their personalities clash as the stakes rise. One of the best things the movie does is make you unsure who to trust. Just when you think you have someone figured out, they reveal a different side of themselves. That keeps you guessing without it ever feeling forced.
Visually, the movie looks sleek without being over-stylized. There’s a moody elegance to the whole thing — dark rooms, glowing lights, the cold luxury of tech wealth. It feels like a place that’s both impressive and hollow. The pacing is tight too. At just over 90 minutes, it never drags, and every scene builds tension or drops new information. The final act pulls everything together in a way that made me go, “Whoa, okay, that was clever.”
The only reason I didn’t give it a perfect score is that some plot points could’ve been fleshed out more. I wanted more time with certain characters, especially as things got serious. A little more depth there would’ve pushed it over the edge. But that’s a small complaint compared to everything the movie nails.
Poker Face isn’t just a thriller — it’s a reflection on mortality, forgiveness, and the cost of silence. It feels like a story someone needed to tell, and Crowe does it with surprising heart. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. It’s more than meets the eye, and I really respect that.