When he saw a replay of Chris Moneymaker’s unlikely run to victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker during a JetBlue flight in 2008, film director Douglas Tirola was inspired. The story of Chris Moneymaker, a restaurant accountant who perfected his poker skills by playing the game online, defeating amateur and professional competitors to claim the WSOP championship, paired with Tirola’s own affection for the game he learned from his grandparents, inspired the director to create the documentary “All-In: The Poker Movie.”
Tirola’s most recent film details the history of poker throughout the 1800s and 1900s, discusses the increases and decreases in the game’s popularity over the years, and describes the impact that recent legislation has had on online poker. Professional poker players, actors, actresses, and pop-culture icons alike are interviewed in “All-In: the Poker Movie,” including Kenny Rogers, Matt Damon, Phil Helmuth, Amarillo Slim, Frank Gifford, Jennifer Tilly, Annie Duke, and, of course, Chris Moneymaker. It is the testimonials provided by these people, among others, that help Tirola tell poker’s historical and current stories.
Even though the original version of Tirola’s documentary already had a press screening at the beginning of last year and was scheduled to be released in July, 2011, the director decided to adapt his film to reflect the changes that occurred on April 15, 2011, the day Tirola and many others refer to as “Black Friday.”
On April 15, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice effectively ended online poker in America as a form of gambling for money. More than just a threat to the livelihoods of professional card players, the Department of Justice’s move was interpreted by many as a threat to people’s personal freedoms. “All-In: The Poker Movie” portrays April 15, 2011 as the date that an attack was launched against personal freedoms in the United States, with some of the people interviewed in the film likening the date to the day Pearl Harbor was attacked or the time John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
In a review published in The New York Times on March 22, 2012, Neil Genzlinger suggests that Tirola should have named his movie, “All In: The Poker Propaganda Movie.” Genzlinger explains his comment later in his review when he writes, “The film, though, is so padded with cheerleading that it doesn’t have time for a serious exploration of poker’s place in the broader culture or the consequences of its rapid rise and global reach.”
By contrast, when he was asked about Tirola’s film during an interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Clark Collis, Chris Moneymaker commented, “I had no idea what to expect. I honestly thought this movie started in 2003 and went to current day. I didn’t know it went back to 1800s or whatever. I actually learned a lot, which is cool.”
Regardless of whose impression of “All-In: The Poker Movie” is more accurate, the film can be seen at Hartford, Connecticut’s Real Art Ways on March 23, 24, 30 and 31, 2012. The documentary also opened at New York’s Cinema Village on March 23. Beginning on April 24, 2012, viewers will be able to watch “All-In: The Poker Movie” in the comfort of their own homes on video on demand.