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A 2002 thriller film directed by Mars Callahan, who also stars as a pool hustler named Johnny, once known as "The Sidepocket Kid", who decides to get out of the business after he learns that Joe (Creator/ChazzPalminteri), his manager, threw away his invitation to play in a professional pool league in order to keep making money off of him as a hustler. Unfortunately, it turns out he isn't any good at doing ''legitimate'' work, and what's worse, his little brother Danny (Creator/MichaelRosenbaum), something of a hustler himself, is set to get himself in a load of trouble with Joe when he gets in over his head.

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!!This film contains examples of the following tropes:
* BadassBoast: Delivered by Uncle Mike, setting up how he's going to pay anything to leave Joe with nothing.
-->''I'm a millionaire! That's the difference. I lose 80 I get another 80. For me it doesn't matter.''
* BatmanGambit: Johnny's final [[spoiler: winning]] gamble involves [[spoiler: using Joe's better-safe-than-sorry hustling mentality to work against him. To clarify, both Brad and Joe are convinced that [[ImpossibleTask Brad's final shot is impossible to make]]. Using some clever wordplay, Johnny bets that he could easily make Brad's shot. When Joe agrees to the bet (seeing it as easy money), he doesn't realize that he's just agreed to let Johnny ''[[LoopholeAbuse take Brad's turn]] [[NiceJobFixingItVillain for him]]''! Once Johnny misses the shot on ''Brad's'' turn, the balls are in the perfect position for him to make the shot on ''his'' turn, winning him the game.]]
* BrickJoke: During one of the scenes with Danny & co. at their favorite restaurant, Max tells everyone that [[ItMakesSenseInContext fake breast implants help prevent women from drowning]]. [[spoiler: In a humorous scene that plays during the credits, Danny & his friends are shown placing a bet on whether one of the waitresses' breasts are real. When they find out that they ''are'', Max tells her "Don't go swimming, you'll drown."]]
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Uncle Mike shows up with one.
* CatchPhrase: Johnny's "What, did I stutter?" line.
* ChekhovsGun: The car that Uncle Mike bets in the upstairs pool game is seen again at the end, where Johnny uses it to drive away with Tara (and it being implied that Mike gifted him the car as a token of thanks).
* ChekhovsGunman: Uncle Mike [[spoiler: and Chico]].
* ChekhovsSkill: Johnny's ability to use LoopholeAbuse to con people. [[spoiler: It wins him the final game.]]
* CommonKnowledge: In-universe. Pretty much everything out of Max's mouth. The most typical response from his friends is to ask him ''Where do you get this shit?!''
* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Danny gets himself in a world of trouble after getting into debt with Joe, culminating in him rashly attempt to rob a pawn shop in an attempt to raise several thousand dollars after Joe gives him 24 hours to come up with the money. The action leads to Danny being [[LaserGuidedKarma arrested immediately the moment he steps outside the pawn shop]].
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Johnny and Uncle Mike manage to completely get away with the money while Joe gets his (apparent) comeuppance, last being seen chased out of the poolhall by Chico and his gang. Tara and Johnny manage to smooth over their relationship troubles, and the epilogue heavily implies that Johnny fulfilled his dream of going pro.
* EvilLawyerJoke: Told by a lawyer, no less.
* ExactWords: Leading directly to LoopholeAbuse.
* FetishRetardant: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Chris, as to him stuffed animals, tattoos, and choking are this.
* FinalBossPreview: Brad shows up in one of the first scenes of the movie, working for Chico. Chico wants him to play against Johnny when Johnny brashly ups the ante after finding out that Joe had thrown out his league invite. Brad declines because Johnny appears to have "a lot of personal shit" going on.
* GreyAndGreyMorality: Basically the film is about pool sharks hustling each other for varying reasons.
* HelloAttorney: Hello Paralegal in the case of Johnny's girlfriend-slash-sugarmomma.
* IronicEcho: Johnny's CatchPhrase gets repeated back to him by the end of the film.
--> ''What, did I stutter? A few seconds ago, it was like a poolhall up in this mutha-fucker, now it's as quiet as a church!''
* LastSecondWordSwap: Because at one point, he's ''not'' playing pool in a poolhall, so he has to change his catchphrase mid-sentence for it to make any sense.
* LoopholeAbuse: Johnny is a master of using this. The final shot of the film is Johnny utilizing this trope, via [[spoiler:paying $5,000 for Brad's shot, stopping the latter from taking ''his'' shot, and saying that he paid for Brad's shot, not his own shot, while Joe tries to bluster that Johnny can't do that]].
* OhCrap: Joe, when he realizes that Johnny's backer is a ''millionaire''. He also sports one near the beginning when [[spoiler: he finds out Johnny set him up as payback]], has another one when Johnny outsmarts him in the final stretch of the movie, and provides ''[[RuleOfThree yet another one]]'' at the end when [[spoiler: Chico comes in armed with a [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun]] and backed up by [[GangBangers his entire gang]]!]]
* NWordPrivileges: Johnny. Because he and Chico? They're ''Niggas''.
* PunchClockVillain: Brad. He hustles Danny for an outrageous sum of money, and Johnny has to play him to make back the money his brother owes Joe. As soon as the game is concluded [[spoiler: and Chico shows up with a shotgun and a grudge against Joe]], Brad packs up his gear and departs, making small talk with Johnny on the way out the door.
* ScreeningTheCall: At the beginning of the movie, Joe is going through the mail and finds a letter inviting Johnny to play in a professional tournament. Not wanting his meal-ticket to leave him he throws it away. Fast forward several years to when Johnny finds out that this has happened ''multiple'' times, and it causes an immediate rift between the two that sets off the plot for the rest of the film.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Brad is only being paid to play pool by Joe. The moment that Joe pulls a gun and Chico intervenes, Brad gives his farewells as he quickly packs up his gear and departs.
* ShownTheirWork: The folks who made the movie are very good pool players, and none of the shots are faked (of course, they are set up, but they still had to ''make'' those shots for the camera)
* ThoseTwoGuys: Tang, Chris, and Max. Danny's three friends who deliver easily 90% of the movie's funniest (and least relevant) dialogue.
* ToThePain: Uncle Mike finally has enough of Joe's trash talk, and calls him out on the spot to put down everything of value he has with him, to include over eighty grand, his car, and even his gold ring. Casually throwing down cash to cover every last bit.
-->'''Uncle Mike''': I'm gonna leave you with ''nothing.''
* TheTropeKid: Johnny, formerly known as the Sidepocket Kid.
* UnclePennybags: Uncle Mike, or as Joe calls him, "Daddy Warbucks". Mike seems to find the nickname [[ActuallyPrettyFunny amusing enough.]]
* WhereDoYouThinkYouAre: Joe unleashes a monologue at Uncle Mike along these lines during the final game, informing him that he's out of his depth in a pool hall like this, and how he'll remember the day that Joe took his eighty grand.
* WorthyAdversary: Brad. After their high-stakes game, he makes small talk with Johnny and even gives him some encouraging words.
* YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith: Mike spells it out for Joe during the final game, when the latter attempts to intimidate the former by dramatically throwing $80,000 onto a pool table: He's a ''millionaire'', eighty grand is literally nothing to him, and he can afford to keep throwing money on the table pretty much indefinitely until Johnny wins. And he intends to take Joe for every last thing he has, including his jewelry, just because [[JerkAss Joe is such a dick.]]
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