Entertainment

Obvious tell by ‘All In’

Amusing and informative (and hyperbolic) as it is, “All In: The Poker Movie” is a documentary whose intended audience is unclear.

Cardsharps will probably be familiar with every point made in this film about the history and culture of poker in the US, but those who aren’t obsessed with the game may lose interest, given the scattershot, episodic nature of the doc (which ranges from how poker became popular to its history of problems with the law). Colorful characters (including Matt Damon, who starred in the poker movie “Rounders,” and says that film, more than any other he’s made, is the one that fans most often mention to him) share their thoughts on what the game means. Poker is compared to capitalism, religion, jazz, the American Revolution, etc., but there isn’t a story here, just a tour d’horizon.

Interesting trivia and anecdotes (one champ recalls that at a student union in 1985, pot smoking was tolerated but poker was not) pass the time, but they don’t quite add up to a movie.