You know, one that’s off the lip of a cliff, and has a waterfall attached. The local AUSTRALIAN swimming hole, I might add. The movie begins with Crowe’s character in his early teens, bicycling with best buddy Drew, to the local swimming hole. He doesn’t entirely let on, which is the point of the title. It’s not one of Crowe’s most virtuosic performances, but it does have a comfortable, lived-in feel, despite the considerable anxiety his character, Jake Foley, is feeling. One figures that kind of exposure might have informed his performance here as a tech billionaire-who gives his profession as “gambler” to a would-be portrait painter-arranging an eccentric sendoff for himself in “Poker Face.”
Actor, movie star, and director Russell Crowe is not a billionaire, but he’s likely been in closer proximity to billionaires than most of us.
