Ante up

"Owning Mahowny" (2003)

The movie: A torn-from-the-headlines character study focused on a Toronto bank manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who commits bank fraud at a record-setting level to feed his gambling addiction.

Game of choice: As with "California Split," the range of games is non-discriminatory, though Hoffman's Mahowny proves most lucky at craps.

Winning or losing hand?: Never has a casino felt so antiseptic and claustrophobic onscreen, though that's in keeping with the film's intent—to portray gambling as a joyless compulsion. Director Ricard Kwietniowski adds enough droll humor to keep the proceedings from becoming too stifling, and the brilliant Hoffman fully inhabits the desperate Mahowny. Is there anyone better at playing in-over-their-head schlubs?