By: Andrew Wing

The Card Counter is a 2021 American drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader (who earned his first Academy Award nomination back in 2017 for the dramatic thriller First Reformed). It stars Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars sequel trilogy), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip, Night School), Tye Sheridan (Mud, Ready Player One), and Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project, The Lighthouse). Legendary director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed) serves as an executive producer.

The film tells the story of an ex-military interrogator turned gambler, William Tell (Isaac), who during his eight-year stint is not only haunted by the ghosts of his past decisions but also learns how to count cards. And following his release from prison, a meeting with a past acquaintance from the gambling world, La Linda (Haddish), shows him that all he wants to do is count cards, but on the casino trail, that dream of his is shattered once he meets Cirk (Sheridan), a vulnerable and angry young man who is seeking to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel (Dafoe).

It had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2021. It was released on September 10, 2021, by Focus Features.

THE GOOD

One word. Finally! I could be wrong here, but I’m 99% sure I saw the first trailer for The Card Counter over a year ago, and I have been waiting on pins and needles ever since to check this out and review it. Yes, a big reason for my excitement was this absolutely stacked cast that was led by the man who had himself arguably the best 2021 out of anyone in the industry in Oscar Isaac who starred in not only the HBO drama miniseries Scenes from a Marriage alongside Best Actress winner Jessica Chastain, but also the sci-fi epic Dune (see my full review here) that brought home more awards than any other film at this year’s 94th Academy Awards. But yeah, I think Isaac is one of the best actors working today, so once this film finally came to the HBO Max streaming service a couple of weeks back, I knew I had to check it out first thing. But was it worth the wait? Keep reading to find out!

You’ll just have to wait a little longer before that question is answered, but to get the ball rolling, The Card Counter was good. For someone like myself who has never played real poker, I have always been intrigued by the sport, to say the least. I also have enjoyed almost every film that revolves around poker from Molly’s Game in 2017, to the 1998 classic Rounders, to even Daniel Craig’s first outing as the famous James Bond in Casino Royale. There is just something I like about movies that involve poker, and I can say that The Card Counter is a solid entry to that list. But aside from my weird fascination with poker movies, the movie was good because of the two main men who were in charge: Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese.

Now Scorsese only served as an executive producer here, but still, anything with his name attached is going to be good, and that was exactly the case here. For Schrader though, he is definitely less of a household name compared to Scorsese, but the man wrote or co-wrote screenplays for four Scorsese films, with two of them being some of Scorsese’s best works in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Also, Schrader’s last directorial outing was First Reformed in 2017, a movie I find to be severely underrated that features an incredible lead performance from Ethan Hawke. And now since you know that, you won’t be surprised why this movie was a good one. Sure, there were some things with Schrader’s direction that I think would’ve made the film stronger, but the man knows how to write a film and direct it in a way that showcases the lead actors skills, because that is just what he did with Oscar Isaac here.

All of the performances were good here, specifically Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe, and I will talk more about them later on in the review, but despite those stars being in the film, Oscar Isaac outshined them all just as I had hoped and expected he would. Now a year back once I had originally watched the trailer for the first time, I instantly thought this was going to be a Best Actor-contending Oscar kind of role, and while maybe it wasn’t on that level, it was still incredible and it didn’t get discussed nearly as much as it should have. His performance here was one that had me glued to the screen every time he was on it. It was both mysteriously slick on the outside just like his character’s hair but also tormented on the inside sort of performance that gave the film life. All in all, maybe it wasn’t his best work which I still think is Inside Llewlyn Davis from the Coen brothers, but it was good enough to make me feel even more confident that his first Oscar-winning performance is coming very very soon.

Aside from all of that, there were a couple of other small things that I liked about the film. The production design was great with all of the casinos they were running through, and while the cinematography from Alexander Dynan wasn’t eye-popping or anything like that, it was more laid back and reserved with hints of the color gray and I think it matched the film’s tone. Also, the music was pretty good too so shoutout to Robert Levon Been and Giancarlo Vulcano.

THE BAD

Back to my original question I started the review off with whether or not this film was worth the ridiculously long wait to see it, my answer is unfortunately no. It just wasn’t, and maybe that’s my fault because the longer I waited the more excited I became. I mean how could I not? It’s a movie that was produced by the GOAT Martin Scorsese that featured one of the hottest actors on the planet right now in Oscar Isaac. It also didn’t help either that Schrader’s last outing was freaking incredible, but this was a significant step back for the director if you ask me.

I don’t know, it just felt like we got a mixed effort from Paul Schrader. Now the man knows how to write and direct a film, I’m not questioning that, but at the same time it felt like as the plot began to unwind in The Card Counter, he just didn’t know how to bring this baby home, and it’s a real shame because there was a lot of potential with this. But again, back to First Reformed, that film was building towards an epic finale and it absolutely paid off, and with this, I kind of hated the ending to be brutally honest.

And lastly, when I saw there was a lot of potential with this project, I meant it because it’s not every day that you get a cast this stacked. And while I said the performances we got from Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe were good, I really think Schrader severely underutilized them. Maybe not Haddish’s character so much because I feel like there wasn’t much to her character in the first place, but hey I love me some Tiffany Haddish, so forgive me for wanting more of her on-screen. For me though, it was what we got from Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe that really left me wanting more because the way both of their character’s stories wrap up was quite frustrating, to say the least.

THE VERDICT

Despite this being a significant step back from his previous work due to a forgettable second half and the fact that he underutilized an all-star level cast, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter is still a serviceable drama film that features an above-average performance from one of the best in the business right now in Oscar Isaac.