Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the creators of Half Nelson and Sugar, have gone for full- strength Americana here. Their uncomfortable buddy movie edges two gamblers through the downmarket dives that line less-romantic curves of the Mississippi River. Vintage blues underscores endless shots of neon signs offering crackling promise of protein-rich breakfasts within moulded diners.
True, those combinations have found their ways into a thousand beer commercials and blue jean promotions. Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell have painted these corners. But there’s a stubbornness to the directors’ approach – they simply refuse to accept these tunes are played out – that should win over even the most wary punter.
It helps that they have Ben Mendelsohn on their team. No other contemporary actor does dangerous pathos quite so effectively. Playing a hopeless gambler named Gerry in Mississippi Grind, Mendelsohn wears the look of a needy mongrel who, however hard he tries to be good, will always end up weeing on his host's carpet.
Despite a lifetime in hock to dangerous men named after cities, Gerry still allows himself to believe in omens and runes. It looks as if Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) may be the living catalyst that will reignite his good fortune.
After bonding in a seedy midwestern casino, they decide to light out for a card game in New Orleans. The chaps form an effective complementary partnership: Curtis is the smooth lubricant to Gerry’s awkward grit.
Sometimes the cliches come a little too fast and fruity. A predictably unrecognisable Sienna Miller (choosing her directors wisely in recent years) does the best she can, but can’t quite persuade us that she is playing anything other than a prostitute with a heart of gold. The competing gamblers are no more subtly caricatured than those in paintings of dogs playing poker.
More seriously, Mississippi Grind never really engages with any of the card games or craps sessions the boys encounter on their travels. Those hoping for a last-card showdown in the tradition of The Cincinnati Kid need take their chips elsewhere.
For all that, neither the acting nor the cinematic texture can be faulted.
