Poolhall Junkies

source: Poolhall Junkies

The film Poolhall Junkies centers on pool shark Johnny (Mars Callahan), who breaks free from Joe (Chazz Palminteri), his mentor and one of the dirtiest hustlers around. He makes the break upon finding out that Joe hid his being invited to shoot with the pros from him, and from here things become violent and Joe breaks Johnny's hand. Joe uses pool shark Brad (Rick Schroder) to bring Johnny's younger brother Danny (Michael Rosenbaum) into the picture, as he hustles Danny and proceeds to beat him up and to threaten his life for the money he owes him. In the chaos, Danny tries to knock off a pawnshop and is arrested and imprisoned. It is then up to Johnny to play Brad for the cash to get his brother out of jail. Director Mars Callahan successfully made this a film about achieving greatness. Throughout the film, we know Johnny has possibly missed his chance to be great. A chance many get once in a lifetime. But throughout the film, we see that Johnny is a great person, sticks to his morals (although they are a bit hazy), is a true friend, and always has some goodness at heart. At one point, Johnny swears off of the game, but returns when the stakes involve getting his girlfriend Tara (Alison Eastwood) her dream job in the law firm she happens to be interning at. In doing this, he meets and befriends her Uncle Mike (Christopher Walken), who backs him and gives him the money he needs to possibly win his final game. The pivotal choice in music for this film is very original. It went very well with the key moments it was placed in. At one point in the final pool game, the two competitors pass by one another, and right at that point there is a howl in the music that has been playing throughout the game. This makes the meeting that much more exciting. This film was excellently pieced together, and probably both under credited and under viewed.

I saw it last night and was surprised that I enjoyed it. I just thought it was going to be about billiards (not that I terribly mind that) and hustling, having the same sort of stiffness of The Color of Money, but it was more than that. It brought universal appeal into it about doing/playing something just for the love of it. Christopher Walken had a minor part, but he was great in it. Gregory 'Mars' Martin, who plays the main character, reminded me a lot of a younger John Cusack, looks and style. Michael Rosenbaum (Lex from Smallville) and their set of friends added great humor to the screen. I just love that the movie reaches my generation and was fun to watch. Not the best billiards movie, of course, but I was definitely entertained.

The trivia for "Poolhall Junkies" says that the two individuals behind the movie spent two weeks on the script and ten years trying to get the movie made. Well, I believe the two weeks on the script part because the script is utterly wretched, but I don't know about the ten years part because this movie rips off "Rounders" to a huge extent. In fact, "Poolhall Junkies" is just like "Rounders" minus the great acting, the interesting story, the realistic dialog and the production values. "Poolhall Junkies" is a juvenile fantasy film about hustling and pool that never approaches the heights or depths of hustling and poker as depicted in "Rounders". The story in "Poolhall Junkies" follows Johnny Doyle (Mars Callahan)a pool prodigy discovered and groomed by Joe (played by a slumming Chazz Palminteri) to be a pool hustler. Johnny double-crosses Joe for reasons that I'm not going to get into because they're stupid, and later has to face Joe's new hustler Brad (played by a slumming Rick Schroder) in a high-stakes game of pool, while suffering from a broken wrist given to him by an angry Joe. Okay, we all know what the ending will be in a film like this -- its the journey that makes it worthwhile, and "Poolhall Junkies" makes the journey painful and nausea inducing. Not even an appearance by Christopher Walken can save this Hindenburg of a movie. The stupidity of this movie especially shines through when Johnny is having some trouble in the climatic final game versus Brad, who is revealed to be the 13th ranked pro pool player in the US. That's when Nick (Rod Steiger), the grizzled old hustler who owns the pool hall the match is being played in, reassures Johnny by saying "Don't worry. I've seen his type many times before... they always crack under pressure. He can't last, so hang in there." Well, no. Since the guy is the 13th ranked player in the US he obviously doesn't crack under pressure because if he did then he obviously would be unable to make his living playing pool for high stakes. And why would a pro-player work for a two-bit hustler like Joe anyway? He could hustle for himself if he felt the need to make pocket money, there's nothing to be gained by hooking up with a small time criminal. The whole scenario makes absolutely no sense, except to the scriptwriters of "Poolhall Junkies". And the whole movie is full of idiotic sequences just like this one. Save your time and your eyes and watch "The Hustler" again if you're in the mood for a pool hall flick.

This movie could only appeal to someone who doesn't know the game. The actors can't hold a cue and are shown making ridiculous and sometimes even illegal shots (the push stroke to roll a ball along the rail is not a legal stroke). Bank shots being played when a direct shot is available.. etc. This movie sucks as a pool movie. The acting is poor and the scenes contrived. The movie would have us believe that someone could get away with betting that a shot could be made on a player's turn and then being able to take the next shot because the player bought his opponent's turn and therefore the subsequent shot was still his. Guy would have his ass kicked.

Seriously. This entire film was a bunch of incredibly contrived garbage. Alison Eastwood acts like a piece of wood. The writer/director/star of this movie couldn't act or write or direct. Case in point, this ridiculous mini-scene at an RV lot: "I'll bet you (something ridiculous) I can tell you where you got your shoes." "Yeah, where?" "You got your left shoe on your left foot and your right shoe on your right foot." (Cut to next scene, with the con accomplished.) What a load of crap! Anyone who has ever been to New Orleans knows that old line. I believe that this is a bold cinematic misadventure. This film is terrible on every level. I would encourage the filmmaker to cut his losses and go back to barber college or clown school or anything that requires him NOT to be in front of or behind the camera.

After seeing this film all I can say is wow! The flow was there, combined with the screen chemistry, made an excellent combination. Christopher Walken played a small part in this movie, but the parts he was in just blew me away. It was fun to watch him be a cocky SOB. It was funny. The best scene with him was when he told Chazz Palminteri that he was a millionaire and 80k meant nothing to him, yet to Chazz it was more than he could chew. (what he said more or less) The movie was filled with excitement, humor, and a lot of crazy shots that I probably will go out of my way to try and learn. Being someone who enjoys the game of pool I loved knowing the hustler moves ahead of time. (The kid falling for the 4 balls of the table trick was great, but he had to learn right.) Either way pool is a great game, and it's nice to see a movie that took the sport and turned it into a great visual experience through the lives of the actors. Excellent acting, casting, and just an overall good movie going experience. And I hope that many of you can see this movie and get as much fun out of it as I have.

I am a big fan of pool, and have been watching all the pool movies I can find. The obviously great Hustler and Color of money are the only two of any quality I have found. The pool played in Poolhall Junkies is absurd, the way the plot develops is so slow and preictable and the ending is just dull. To me it seems strangely disjointed in places with many scenes not fiting or joining to those around them. Its not funny enough for a comedy and the plot and action is too thin for anything else. It is a little better than Stickmen which is not even worth comment. Can it really be that to make a good film about pool Paul Newman is needed ? Surely someone with a brain out there can come up with something a little better than Poolhall Junkies, I'm considering writing a script myself.

I rented Poolhall Junkies. Sometimes one rents a string of bad movies and wonders if the end will ever come. One may even think of giving up. Well, poolhall junkies didn't make me give up, but I have taken to renting movies I have already seen and liked. Watching Poolhall Junkies, as I see it, is like finding out you have a terminal disease and doing your best to find new habits that may save your life for a little while. I couldn't sit through the film. I felt bad that I couldn't as I did rent it. But, after that scene where the main character (I hesitate to use the word character at all in a review of a film with no character whatsoever) is informed that his brother has been beaten, I just turned it off. "God please stop" went through my head. And so I did. The memory remains though. I suppose mostly the characters bothered me. The lead actor was completely unconvincing. He was supposed to be tough, witty and well-rounded, but he came off as a pretentious brat, a true fake. In fact, all the characters were pretentious brats.They were not smart or clever (and the characters were shown over and over, like a broken record, to be what they weren't.... I feel greater sickness as I remember the details). They were not anything. They were just fakes. Alison Eastwood was in the film. Wouldn't it have been immensely satisfying if Clint Eastwood somehow entered the plot to visit his daughter, and ended up doing a high plains drifter job on everyone. Then, poolhall junkies would have been a classic. The most hated collection of film fakes getting killed off by the ultimate gunman. Forgive me, I'm dreaming -- trying to manipulate my poolhall junkies nightmare. I'll say it definitively. Just about everything about Poolhall Junkies is fake ... imitations of imitations. Its fakeness goes along with the growing number of fake people strolling around, so I'm sure a very real fan base exists for it. Most have heard the line "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." This is like a law in many circles. One could then propose and argue that poolhall junkies is admirable (if you recall,I did infer doing so would make one a fake, just for the hell of it, you know) and all I could do is accept it due to perception laws. I won't though. In response to syllogisms about perception, I propose ugliness goes right down to the bone. Ugliness to the bone: This is how Poolhall junkies looks in my eyes, and my perception may be more than an opinion. Yes, this is a matter of perception too. Oh well!