Characters As Plot Devices

A good screenplay covers its tracks. Characters are often plot devices, thrown in to make things tough for the protagonist. The trick is to make them live and breathe, rather than merely exist as a plot function.

Rounders was not a hit. This is due to bad timing. It's a smart film about the world of underground poker that made the mistake of coming out in 1998. If it were released today, there'd be a huge crowd to see it, what with all the interest in poker, particularly Texas Hold 'Em.

Okay, maybe there's another reason it flopped--it turns the basic Hollywood formula on its head. Normally, the hero turns his back on boxing, or gambling, or whatever, and returns to his girlfriend and an honest job. In Rounders, our hero, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), is a great poker player who loses all his money on one disastrous hand. He swears to stay on the straight and narrow. From that point on, the story is how he gets back in the world of poker, ultimately dropping out of law school and dumping his girlfriend--and we're expected to be on his side.

Anyway, there are two classic supporting characters who amount to plot devices. The screenplay has varying success at hiding this. Edward Norton--almost a co-lead--plays Mike's best friend, Worm. He turns out to be the classic screwed-up best friend who moves the plot along by getting the lead in trouble. The trick with this character is to have a believable bond with the lead in the first place, and to motivate his actions properly so that we don't wonder why the protagonist doesn't abandon him.

On the first question, the screenplay does a good job. Worm did Mike a big favor by gong to jail and not informing on him, so Mike owes him a lot. On the second question, the screenplay wavers a bit. Worm is such a jerk from square one, and is shown to be uncontrollable in almost every scene, that it gets harder and harder to believe Mike is not only putting up with him, but putting himself on the line.

Much worse, if a much smaller part, is Mike's girlfriend Jo. I don't blame Gretchen Mol for taking the part. There aren't many great parts out there for women. But she's stuck playing the wet blanket. Her only purpose is to lecture Mike. The film may need that voice, but hectoring does not a character make. Her scenes just become placeholders while we wait for Mike to get back to poker, where the fun is.