Submitted by LightSparrow t3_104pu1r in movies
Spoilers ahead:
I think the movie Rounders ending is wrong and teaches the wrong lesson. Mike won everything and then when faced with the final choice of the movie, get his girl and law school back or give into the poker life, he chooses poker?!
Like, the literal opposite of what any kind of character growth or learning should be about. They even have an entire character in the movie to show the pitfalls of going down the ‘poker route’ and it’s worm. He constantly is in debt, addicted to the game. And a warning to Mike as what could happen if he keeps going down this path.
And he gets his title fight, he gets his redemption, which should be enough. The movie starts with him (although we don’t know it yet) coming off the high of his life beating Chan at a table game. This is akin to going 1v1 with Michael Jordan for a round of BBball and you dribble between his legs and get a dunk off on him. It’s the high of your life if basketball is your thing. And it proves you can hang with the pros, even if you don’t choose to dedicate your life to it. And then again at the end of the film he gets his redemption game with KGB and wins. He’s shown he has what it takes, but the right thing to do is walk away and pursue a good life. Literally what the movie was having him struggle with the entire time. It’s the whole plot of the movie. Poker life or his real life ( girlfriend and a job or turning into worm) and at the end of it all after he gets the ultimate poker highs and proves himself to himself, he CAN go the distance. He walks up to his girlfriend and tells her nah, he’s going to Vegas. Essentially right back where he started the movie walking into the KGB to play. No growth whatsoever.
Rant over lol.
I know many people will hate this I’m not saying it to be edgy, just how I felt on a recent re-watch. I get that a lot of people think him going to Vegas for the World Series is just him still trying to make it his way. Just how I feel.