During the revolution, a high-stakes gambler arrives in Cuba seeking to win big in poker games. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with the wife of a Communist revolutionary.
Elaborate visual mounting and iconographic placement of the romantic leads are the movie's preoccupation, with the overthrow of Batista merely providing local color.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
26 May 2008
rotten:
Director Sydney Pollack and star Robert Redford have lost their normally dependable quality touch as they slog through a notably uncompelling $45 million-plus tale of a gringo caught up in the Cuban revolution.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
26 May 2008
fresh:
The glittering decadence of this culture on the verge of collapse is in fact the film's most fascinating aspect, and Mr. Pollack has re-created it extravagantly.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
rotten:
Some fundamental things still do apply as time goes go by.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
12 May 2001
rotten:
At best, Pollack achieves a counterfeit sense of this atmosphere. But he insists on continuing the card game anyway, an over-extended misdeal of a movie that refuses to fold.