Shade

R

2003

1h 41m

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

List

67%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Tiffany (Jamie Foxx), Charlie (Gabriel Byrne) and Vernon (Thandie Newton) are con artists looking to up the ante from their typical scams. They figure a good way of doing this is taking down Dean "The Dean" Stevens (Dina Merrill), a well-known cardsharp, in a rigged game. However, they first need enough money to enter a game with Stevens, so they decide to strike a deal with fellow crook Larry Jennings (Stuart Townsend) to scam a local gangster -- which turns out to be a bad idea.

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Peacock

isla s

This film has a decent cast but the plot is pretty slow and convoluted. It didn't interest me much at all really. I suppose I enjoyed the shots of people dealing out the cards quickly but otherwise it was pretty boring and certainly not memorable, hence I wouldn't recommend it (if anything, its a little shady you could say).

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

mark a

way better than expected

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This felt like a 90s mob con man hybrid and was rather enjoyable to watch 3.6. Only thing I couldn’t get off my mind the entire time was for cash games as large as they were playing they would definitely hire a permanent dealer right ?!??

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/10/20

Full Review

Audience Member

Ultimately, this is a pretty good casino-style movie. Hell, it's almost a heist movie. But there are a few significant problems that bog it down. Stallone appears at minute 43 and probably has less than 25 minutes on screen. Instead, the movie focuses on the far duller and never properly explained characters of Vernon and Charlie Miller, to the extent of hinting at a mystery event in Atlantic City and a love triangle with Tiffany, neither of which are ever discussed. Tiffany participates in an alarming and confusing organ theft racket which is mentioned exactly twice without explanation. There's a weird scene with an old mentor that fills no gaps except to give a hair's breadth of backstory that doesn't matter to Vernon. Jamie Foxx gives an absurd performance that vastly overplays the value of his character. The biggest problem is the admittedly ambitious but poorly executed directorial style. He tries to tell the story in a nonlinear fashion, which pays off a few times, but tends to leave you wondering "what was that part again?" Not to mention the number of twists and double-crosses stacks up so high by the end of the movie (without any indication how they arranged said scams) that you kind of have to throw up your hands and take it. He wants to tell a super complex Guy Ritchie-style heist story, but the aim is too high. You are forced to simply believe what happens without adequate proof. Realistically though, it's a fun and unpredictable card movie. Don't overthink it when it ends and you'll be better off.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

jay s

Poor on everything. The story sluggish. The actors are in a bad script trap.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Mostly slow in its presentation, some of the tricks and set ups were neat. A few twists in plot that you could see coming, and the final game was nicely acted.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Damian Nieman

Director

Thandiwe Newton

Tiffany

Gabriel Byrne

Charlie Miller

Jamie Foxx

Larry Jennings

Stuart Townsend

Vernon

Bo Hopkins

Lt. Scarne

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Robert Koehler

Variety

Card sharks and grifters look like the stuff of an engrossing movie in Shade, but, in the end, under-realized direction and characters deliver less than a full deck.

Jun 10, 2008

Full Review

Rene Rodriguez

Miami Herald

A failure on every conceivable level -- from its trite, pedestrian dialogue to its static, torturous pacing.

Rated: 1/4

Apr 30, 2004

Full Review

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Loaded with dizzying cons and betrayals, it pays off with a satisfying and unpredictable finish.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 8, 2004

Full Review

Bill Clark

FromTheBalcony

Shade is the kind of film that makes for a perfect Saturday night rental.

Rated: B

Jun 26, 2005

Full Review

Luke Y. Thompson

New Times

...the plot becomes almost irrelevant -- these guys are just fun to watch, and only Newton seems to be on a vain superstar trip.

May 22, 2004

Full Review

Pablo Villaça

Cinema em Cena

O diretor/roteirista Damian Nieman mantm o filme com um ritmo sempre envolvente e conta com as timas atuaes de todo o elenco (Stallone e Townsend, em especial).

Rated: 4/5

Apr 27, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

Tiffany (Jamie Foxx), Charlie (Gabriel Byrne) and Vernon (Thandie Newton) are con artists looking to up the ante from their typical scams. They figure a good way of doing this is taking down Dean "The Dean" Stevens (Dina Merrill), a well-known cardsharp, in a rigged game. However, they first need enough money to enter a game with Stevens, so they decide to strike a deal with fellow crook Larry Jennings (Stuart Townsend) to scam a local gangster -- which turns out to be a bad idea.

Director: Damian Nieman
Producer: Joe Nicolo, Bo Hopkins
Screenwriter: Damian Nieman
Production Co: Omen Pictures, Hammond Entertainment, Cobalt Media Group, RKO Pictures, Merv Griffin Entertainment, Judgement Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 22, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $24.7K
Runtime: 1h 41m
Sound Mix: Surround

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