Top Casino Movies to Watch This Year

Casino movies never really go out of fashion. One year it's poker. The next it's a casino heist. Then somebody discovers an old classic and suddenly everyone's talking about it again. Part of the appeal is that these movies rarely focus on gambling alone. The cards, chips and roulette wheels are usually sitting in the background while something else is happening. A scam. A friendship falling apart. A bad decision getting worse.

If you're looking for something to watch this year, these are a few movies that are still worth your time.

The Sting

Some older movies feel outdated. The Sting doesn't.

It’s all about a con, and the less you know going in, the better. Paul Newman and Robert Redford do most of the heavy lifting, but the script deserves a lot of the credit too. It's one of those movies where you think you've figured things out, then realise you're probably a step behind. There are bigger casino movies. There are louder casino movies. Very few are this satisfying.

Casino

Mention casino movies to almost anybody and this title usually gets brought up in the first minute.

Martin Scorsese's Casino takes viewers into 1970s Las Vegas through Sam Ace Rothstein, a man who only seems to have complete control over his world. What stands out isn't even the gambling. It's the way the movie shows everything behind it. Security. Money counting. Surveillance. Everything operating like clockwork until people get in the way. Robert De Niro is excellent, but Sharon Stone's performance is often what people remember later.

The Hangover

Las Vegas has inspired plenty of serious dramas. The Hangover went in a different direction.

Three friends wake up after a night they can't remember. The groom is missing. There are clues everywhere. None of them make much sense. The story gets more ridiculous as it goes along, but that's part of the appeal. The movie captures the feeling of a city where almost anything seems possible, especially after midnight. Years later, people are still quoting scenes from it.

Bad Grandmas

Bingo movies are harder to find than casino movies, which makes Bad Grandmas stand out immediately.

The story follows a group of grandmothers who become caught up in criminal situations far more dramatic than their usual bingo nights. The movie’s all about comedy and friendship, which separates it from some of the darker gambling stories on this list. It may even spark fond memories of your favourite bingo games and how a simple evening at the hall could become the highlight of the week. Not every gambling movie needs high rollers and luxury casinos.

Rounders

Poker players have been recommending Rounders for years and they're probably not stopping anytime soon.

Matt Damon plays Mike McDermott, a law student pulled back into underground poker games. Edward Norton plays his friend Worm, whose return causes all sorts of problems. Unlike a lot of gambling movies, Rounders isn't trying to make poker look flashy. Most of the tension comes from people sitting around a table trying not to reveal what they're thinking.

Ocean's Eleven

Ocean’s Eleven is more about a casino than gambling itself. It trades poker chips for a heist plan and somehow makes preparing for it look fun.

George Clooney’s Danny Ocean puts together a team to rob three Las Vegas casinos, and we get to see the plan take shape and how each member of the crew fits into it. Every scene is made even more entertaining by Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts. There are plenty of films you'll watch once and forget. Ocean's Eleven isn't one of them.

Molly's Game

Molly's Game is based around poker, but it feels very different from Rounders.

There are poker games, of course, but the real focus is Molly Bloom and the poker empire she builds for the wealthy. Jessica Chastain carries the movie, and Idris Elba plays the lawyer helping her through the fallout. The interesting part is seeing how much organisation sits behind running a business. That's what separates it from a lot of other gambling movies.