Two friends get together for a poker night and, while they wait for the others to arrive, they start to play. Stephen starts to quiz his friend Brian about any latest sexual conquests he may or may not have had. During the course of the conversation, the stakes start to rise – but not on the table so much as in the conversation.
Poker Face is a low budget short which mostly occurs between two cast members. In the concept it is a nice layout with only two actors and everything dialogue driven over a game which involves bluffing and luck; and the nature of it means that we have a two- hander in a single location (more or less), which is a setting that short films often benefit from if they do it well. In this case though the film is too simplistic in how it sets out to do what it does, and this is most obvious in the writing. The dialogue between the two men is reasonably natural – perhaps a bit too much swearing and posturing, however it is far from clunky; the problem with it is that it really isn't servicing what the film is trying to do. I was looking for the dialogue to drive the tension and have intelligence through it, but instead it is very direct and lacking in finesse. This in turn limits the performances as they become also to-the- point with what they are doing.
In the end this approach runs through the whole film, since the conclusion is also lacking in that edge or complexity, as it just lays out the situation in an unlikely and rather antiseptic manner. Technically it is solidly made but without much shine or sparkle to it – which to be fair is not bad for a low budget short, but it does feel like it was working so hard to get the basics right that it never took risks or looking for chances to really do something smart. Overall the film has that feel – one of being too simplistic and direct to really engage the viewer, and with a delivery that does all the basics well enough, but doesn't get beyond that.
