It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Blistering performances.

Rebecca De Mornay - yes! Vincent D'Onofrio - yes! Delroy Lindo - yes! Michael Madsen - yes! What more could you want in a movie.Put them in Vegas and give us a story about robbery, and you got me. yes, you got me - with a movie that just didn't seem to go anywhere. It just jumped all over the place and had no consistent theme.Wendy Riss is just not a scriptwriter, yet. Work some more and get it right.I expected much more from director Alex Cox, especially after the job he did with Rosario Tijeras. I was so disappointed.Not a winner!

A finely tuned and taut script may have been laid to waste here by careless, directoral miscues.Philip (Vincent D'Onofrio) goes on a roulette winning streak in Las Vegas and discovers some hard lessons about faithfulness and betrayal. One of the central themes -- what happens to a person when he finds himself suddenly in the grips of material and financial wealth, and just as importantly, what happens to the recipient's so-called friends and acquaintances in relation to that recipient -- is worth conveying and, as a viewer, exploring in all its nuance and implications. The script certainly seems ready to achieve that -- not to mention there's a near-all-star cast to boot -- but in the hands of director Alex Cox, all the talent (both in terms of cast and script) seems to have been for naught. Cox directs with an uneven hand so that the movie lacks the tonal consistency it deserves. He also exhibits schmaltzy tendencies that move us away from the essence of the script -- it speaks volumes that the movie, which was originally titled "A Darker Purpose" (an acclaimed play by Wendy Riss, who also wrote the screenplay) got turned into a movie titled, well, "The Winner." One can't help but wonder then what would have become of this script if it had fallen into the right director's hands.

Alex Cox has had a very tempestuous relationship with Hollywood over the years, and I think he has all but disowned 'The Winner', but as uneven as it is, it still makes interesting viewing. Vincent D'Onofrio ('Full Metal Jacket') plays Philip, a guy who goes into a casino every Sunday and wins. Consistently. This creates quite a stir and all kinds of people come out of the woodwork wanting a piece of the action, including a showgirl (Rebecca De Mornay - 'Runaway Train') who romances him even though she is involved with a casino heavy (Billy Bob Thornton - 'Pushing Tin'), his estranged criminal brother (Michael Madsen - 'Reservoir Dogs), a nutty wanna be mobster (Frank Whaley - 'Swimming With Sharks') and his two bumbling sidekicks (Richard Edson - 'Strange Days' and Saverio Guerra - 'Becker'). All are planning to rip him off in some fashion. While this movie doesn't completely satisfy there are enough enjoyable scenes from the outstanding supporting cast of low lifes and oddballs to make it worth watching. Delroy Lindo ('Get Shorty') plays the mysterious boss of the casino, and Cox regulars Sy Richardson and Biff Yeager pop up in brief cameos, as does the director himself. I would be very much interested in seeing Cox's own cut of 'The Winner' but until then , this is a curious movie that is worth a look. Flawed yes, but fascinating.

What could the concept have been for this muddled, laughable "thriller?" Oceans 11 meets Pulp Fiction? Ouch! What a misfire. I kept wondering what ARE all those crazies doing up there on my screen?