Putting yourself through college can be an expensive business, especially
in America. In director Mark Illsley's 2003 film Bookies, three
struggling college students – Toby (Nick Stahl), Casey (Lukas Haas) and Jude (Johnny Galecki) – come up with a way of not only paying
their college expenses but also of living an affluent life. The three start
up their own bookmaking service, taking bets from clients both on and off
campus.
With so
many top betting sites available online
now, it's unlikely their business would be so successful today, but things
were different in 2004 and so the three friends are soon raking in the cash.
As their business becomes increasingly popular, they attract the sort of
attention no budding businessman wants – that of the local Mafia, who are
none too happy about the negative impact the three college kids are having
on their own bookmaking business.
Movies in which young protagonists run into trouble with mobsters in the
gambling world are plentiful (see also Rounders and
21), but Bookies stands out by being lighter in tone and more
comedic than most of its rivals. In this way it has more in common with
1960s caper movies like the original Ocean's Eleven and
How to Steal a Million. Screenwriter Michael Bacall would go on to write such comedies as
Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Project X and 21 Jump Street.
Along with the aforementioned trio of young actors, the cast also features
Rachel Leigh Cook, who was a fixture in comedies around this time, and watching her charming
performance in Bookies you'll wonder why her career came to a
standstill soon after. Veteran actor David Proval is well cast as a
mobster, having been a regular on The Sopranos at this time,
not to mention his role in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets.
If you're looking for a fast-paced movie that combines thrills with laughs,
Bookies, with its charismatic young cast and dynamic direction, should hit the
spot. For a similar mix of crime and comedy, also check out director
Illsley's 1999 debut Happy, Texas. Oddly, Illsley hasn't worked since, but with his two films he
demonstrated a knack for finding the right mix of humour and suspense.