If you’re a fan of casinos, it’s likely that you also love to watch a film or two about them.
The fascination with gambling has been around a while, so there are tonnes of Hollywood blockbusters now out there to suit everyone’s tastes.
Here are what we believe to be the top 7 casino movies of all times, filled with James Bond glitz and glamour, high rollers, and big wins.
The Cooler
This 2003 film set in an old school Las Vegas casino stars the ‘unluckiest man in Vegas’, who works to pass his bad luck onto high-rollers to jinx them into losing money when gambling. It’s not exactly a technique listed in Gambling News Magazine’s list of ways casinos make money in poker rooms, but it seems to work for them!
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) lives in a run-down studio apartment in a motel on the Las Vegas strip and is very much alone.
The bad luck charm unexpectedly finds happiness, however, when he meets and starts dating attractive waitress Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello).
When his love affairs start to affect his work life, Lootz’s boss Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) sets to end their arrangement.
Casino Royale
Of course, a James Bond film simply has to make the list. Casino Royale is a favorite among both James Bond and casino films alike and never fails to disappoint.
The banker of all the world’s top terrorists Le Chiffre is found taking part in a high-stakes game of Texas Hold’em in Montenegro to win back his money and stay safe in the eyes of the terrorist gang. Things stop going so well for the banker, however, when Bond is sent to join the game and stop Le Chiffre from winning and escaping.
Heading to Casino de Monte-Carlo, named one of the top 10 casinos you should visit in your lifetime, Bond has to enter the biggest poker game of his career in order to maintain international security.
Starring Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, and Eva Green, this film is full of wealth and risk.
The Hangover
Even if you’re not a huge fan of gambling, The Hangover is simply one of those movies that everyone loves for its humor and adventure.
Friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) head to Las Vegas for their friend Doug’s (Justin Bartha) bachelor party, the home of some of the world’s largest casinos.
However, when they wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened the night before, things get a little weird: the bridegroom has vanished, there’s a tiger in the bedroom and one of them has gained a wedding ring, for a start.
The crew sets off on a hilarious adventure to find Doug and get to the wedding on time. If you’re wondering what the worst that could happen in Las Vegas is, this is certainly it. But it makes one hell of an amazing movie.
Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s Eleven is probably most famous for Rusty Ryan’s line: “Shane, you’ve got three pairs. You can’t have six cards! You can’t have six cards in a five-card game!”
Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney, aims to pull off the biggest heist in history across three top Las Vegas casinos – The Mirage, the Bellagio, and the MGM Grand, which are all owned by tycoon Terry Benedict.
The group aims to swipe $150 million from the casinos with just three rules in place: Don’t hurt anybody, don’t steal from anyone who doesn’t deserve it, and play the game like you’ve got nothing to lose.
With a star-studded cast including Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, and Andy Garcia, this film really is a must-watch.
Vulture claims the movie changed the Heist film culture for a generation.
The Gambler
This film really is old but gold – released in 1974, The Gambler follows Axel Freed (James Caan) a fantastic author and English professor who has an underlying gambling addiction.
After a big loss on a basketball game, Freed ends up having to take $44,000 from his own mother. Continuing to gamble recklessly, he continues to lose money and decides to head to Vegas with his wife in order to try and win it all back.
Online Casino Gems partner Lucian Marinescu describes it perfectly: “This American crime drama perfectly depicts the hold that gambling addictions can have and the debt that begins to build up if you don’t gamble responsibly.”
Rounders
Fans of Poker will really enjoy the 1998 movie Rounders, starring Matt Damon. Damon plays Mike McDermott, a student who has a real flair for poker but loses all his money to Russian gangster Teddy “KGB” (John Malkovich).
After the big loss, he vows to give up gambling and concentrate on studying under pressure from his girlfriend, Jo (Gretchen Mol), but it simply wasn’t meant to last.
Watch Mike leap straight back into gambling to help his childhood friend Lester “Worm” Murphy (Edward Norton) repay the money he owes after getting out of prison.
Following the ups and downs of Mike and Lester, the pair are given one last attempt to beat the Russian and earn back their money.
21
The 2008 American heist drama film 21 was a blockbuster hit and flooded the USA with controversy. Based on the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team, a group of students forms a blackjack group who win by counting cards and using covert signalizing, put together by unorthodox math professor Micky Rosa.
After winning in casino after casino, student Ben wants to try more in order to make enough tuition to study at Harvard.
When they decide to head to Las Vegas (recently called one of the best cities to live in!), the team is faced with the chance to win thousands or lose everything they have.
21 stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Laurence Fishburne in a film of chance, desire, and skills.
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