The Music of Chance

R

1993

1h 38m

Crime

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

87%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

A yuppie (Mandy Patinkin) and a drifter (James Spader) lose at poker at a mansion and are put to work building a stone wall.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

The main thing the movie has going for it is the acting–juicy performances by the five male leads ...

Rated: 2/4

Jun 6, 2022

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Empire Magazine

Rated: 4/5

Dec 30, 2006

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The Music of Chance is one of those movies you can argue about for hours. It refuses to reveal its meaning, yet seems convinced it has one.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

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Malcolm Johnson

Hartford Courant

As it moves towards its fatalistic, circular ending, Haas' austere, matter-of-fact but unnerving portrait of strange bedfellows takes on the feeling of life in all of its isolation, hope and endless, meaningless toil.

Apr 13, 2018

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Quentin Curtis

Independent on Sunday

The film is a brilliantly enigmatic examination of luck, the feeling we have of some harmony or order governing our fate.

Dec 12, 2017

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The oddball tale is so well-acted that it seems like a neglected minor gem.

Rated: B

Jun 6, 2017

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Richard T

What of the most unexpectedly beautiful, dark original films I've ever seen. Can't speak highly enough about it

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/10/24

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Audience Member

This is a dark but absolutely brilliant movie. I don't understand why it has become so obscure. Because of this movie I started reading Paul Auster's books, and I'm a confirmed fan. The movie is very true to the book...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

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Audience Member

This funny was very funny

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

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Audience Member

A true gem of a movie. and one of the most underated films of the 90's. Great performances all round. Not to be missed. Its about a couple of mates who loose a game of poker I seem to remember, and they dont have enough cash to cover the debt. So instead they agree to finish bulding a wall in the garden of the guy's house, and unbeknown to them they become prisoner and it all turns nasty.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

Incredibly interesting, but dark and weird and cold and full of symbols and stuff I probably wouldn't figure out in a million years. Two people, aimlessly drifting through life, meet each other and decide to win some money at a poker game against a couple of rich guys who one of them beat many years before...but that's only the first half hour of the film, and things get much stranger after that.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

Don't really know why this film is so good... nothing actually happens, they play poker and build a wall. That's it!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Philip Haas

Director

James Spader

Jack Pozzi

Mandy Patinkin

Jim Nashe

M. Emmet Walsh

Calvin Murks

Charles Durning

Bill Flower

Joel Grey

Willy Stone

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Synopsis

A yuppie (Mandy Patinkin) and a drifter (James Spader) lose at poker at a mansion and are put to work building a stone wall.

Director: Philip Haas
Producer: Frederick Zollo, Dylan Sellers
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 38m