The Underrated: Hard Eight

"You don't know how to count cards. Better stay away from blackjack." - Sidney

Let me introduce you readers to the Underrated. This is a new format I will be doing every once in awhile where I talk about something I feel is too and unfairly underrated. This can be movies, art, music, or people.

The first underrated item I am starting out with is the 1997 crime drama Hard Eight. The film is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, a vastly talented filmmaker (known most recently for the acclaimed There Will Be Blood). Hard Eight was one of his first big breakthrough movies. Though it doesn't have as much fan fare and praise as Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Hard Eight, a movie that got good reviews despite it's current underrated status, should still be given as much a chance.

The plot of the film is no where near as ambitious as Anderson's other films, but it is unique and captivating in its own way. It starts off as an older man named Sidney (Phillip Baker Hall) rather randomly partners up with an aimless young man named John (John C. Reilly). Sidney takes John under his wing and teaches him to count cards like a pro at the Las Vegas casinos. Over time they develop a father-son type of bond. Things are complicated however when Sidney and John befriend a tough but sweet prostitute/waitress (Gwyneth Paltrow), and Sidney sees bad company in the form of a cocky criminal (Samuel L. Jackson). It all winds into a very savvy, emotional story.

It is all brought together by the performance of Phillip Baker Hall (who is an underrated actor himself) as Sidney, a mysterious old timer whose past is clearly catching up to him and all he can think to do is take care of the true innocents he knows. His character is very deep and sympathetic. John C. Reilly uses his traditional spacey type of attitude while seriously playing a guy who is not as dumb as he seems. Samuel L. Jackson is, well, he's Samuel L. Jackson and that's awesome. Gwyneth Paltrow is very good in her role, sweet if not a bit stubborn. Oh yeah, Philip Seymour Hoffman, a frequent Anderson collaborator along with Hall and Reilly, has a brief scene playing a total competitive dick at the craps tables.

P.T. Anderson uses his skilled direction and writing that blurs the lines between the over the top and the poetically human. The intellect behind the dialogue and the characters' motivations are thought provoking and interesting. Hard Eight was not an astounding movie but it is a very good movie that should be given a chance if no one has ever seen it. It has a fair amount of humor, dread, drama, and heart as any other work of Anderson's and was a joy to watch. This movie being underrated is a shame.

This has been the first of hopefully quite a few issues of The Underrated from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.