03-17-2004, 06:25 PM
I love Hard Eight (aka Sydney), but most people I mention it to find it a bit slow. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson before he made Boogie Nights, it stars the great John C. Reilly as a down on his luck gambler trying to earn money for his mom's funeral. Philip B_aker Hall takes him under his wing and teaches him how to work the casinos for a little cash. Samuel L. Jackson, as always, is pretty kick ass here and Gwenyth Paltrow does an excellent job as a miserable waitress/prostitute. There's some great dialogue and character development here, but the pace of the movie irks people with short attention spans.