Casino News Article of the Month: Lucky You Poker Film Premieres at Tribeca Film Festival

Having its world debut at the Tribeca Film Festival this month is the new poker flick, Lucky You. From the hands of Curtis Hanson, who directed the films, 8 Mile and L.A. Confidential and the writer who penned Forrest Gump, the "romantic drama" may very end up becoming the next cult poker classic. Poker pro, Daniel Negreanu, who has a small part in the film along with several other professional players, is predicting it will be the best poker movie since The Cincinnati Kid. One of the film's producers, Carol Fenelon, was not intending to create a "poker film" however. Her and Hanson, who are both avid poker players, wanted to do a film that shows what real-life poker players do on a daily basis, including the personal dramas and experiences that we all can relate to as human beings. But with plenty of poker action in the movie, the film could very well bend genres and become as poker classic. With parallels to The Hustler, it sounds like Lucky You has the potential of becoming a Rocky in some ways. Just as Rocky was not necessarily about boxing, and more about the triumph of human spirit and romantic drama (Yo Adrienne!) Lucky You sounds like it has all the necessary ingredients to live up to Negreanu's prediction. At the very least, nobody can doubt the authenticity of the film. Recreating the Bellagio poker room and Benny's Bullpen at Binion's Horseshoe exactly as they were in 2003 leading up to the 2003 World Series of Poker Championship, even the poker pros invited to be in the film were dumbfounded about just how real the fake sets looked. Going even further, the filmmakers solicited the man, Doyle Brunson himself, to be used as a consultant to ensure everything down to how the actors carried themselves at the table was as realistic as possible. The only thing that may be baffling to some critics is why on earth Jennifer Tilly is not in the film.