BERNERD REPORTS:
There is a rare moment, when sitting down to watch your nightly TV, when you come across something with potential - and it's not the potential of sitting down to watch the latest blockbuster television debut - it's the quiet potential of a film that you've never heard of, with of cast of great lower-level actors, an interesting premise, and absolutely no reservations. I had this opportunity the other night when I came across a little film called "Even Money".

"Even Money" is a collage of different people and how living in Las Vegas, and gambling, effects each of them. From a writer (Kim Bassinger) who gambles away her families life saving on slot machines, to two loan sharks with stress issues (Jay Mohr and an Irishman), to a gambler (Forest Whitaker) who gets his brother involved in fixing basketball games, to the cop who chases them all (Kelsey Grammar), the stories are complex and interwoven (the most moving, and highly depressing of which was of a has-been magician played by Danny DeVito).

But the performance that really stuck out was an oddity named Victor, played by a beloved actor here at Rogue - Tim Roth. Victor is a rich pawn for the highly alluded to 'Ivan'. He spends hours talking to a large Cockatoo, plays pool with his glasses upside-down and has a large steam room in his house. I can honestly say I've never seen a character quite like him. Everything he did had me watching. While seemingly heading toward one character cliche, he would suddenly whip around and start down another road all together. Was he gay? He didn't over-play it. He was creepy and likable and petty and smart and eccentric and human and I'm sure Tim Roth had a blast playing him.

So if you're looking for something off the beaten path, "Even Money" holds one of the quirkiest characters I've seen in a long time. And I don't mean 'quirky' in that forced, 'she talks to her dead cat' quirky.

Enjoy. . .