Hard Eight is an excellent debut for Paul Thomas Anderson, he has gathered a strong cast led by Philip Baker Hall, and leads us into a world of small time hustlers, and their struggle for a meager existence on the tattered fringe of society. John C. Reilly is terrific here, as a naieve man, down on his luck in a city where luck is everything. Samuel L. Jackson proves again that he is one of the better actors working today, in character roles like this one, he provides a worthy foil for Philip Baker Hall's, Sydney, as a man trying to acheive a measure of redemption. Gwyneth Paltrow makes the most a lesser role with her performance, in a film where all the characters are developed just enough to draw the viewer in for an interesting ride. Three stars out of a possible four.
Review of Hard Eight
