Bookies (film)

Bookies
DVD cover
Directed by	Mark Illsley
Produced by	Sabine Müller Alan Greenspan Paul Greenstone Andrea Kreuzhage Brad Krevoy Gerhard Schmidt
Written by	Michael Bacall
Starring	Nick Stahl Lukas Haas Johnny Galecki Rachael Leigh Cook
Music by	Christopher Tyng
Cinematography	Brendan Galvin
Edited by	Jeff McEvoy
Production company	Intermedia Films
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates	January 20, 2003 (2003-01-20) (Sundance)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States Germany
Language	English
Budget	$8.4 million

Bookies is a 2003 German comedy thriller film written by Michael Bacall and directed by Mark Illsley. The story revolves around the lives of four college students.

Plot

Three college students, Toby, Casey, and Jude, start up a bookie business taking bets from various clients. Their business immediately booms, arousing suspicion among local campus authorities and Toby's girlfriend, Hunter. They subsequently are able to purchase many expensive items such as big screen televisions and new computers to help them manage their complex business. When their business takes off, Jude receives threats from two local Italian bookies to back down because their territories for the business overlap.

When a plan by Jude fails to materialize when betting on the college's team to win the game, Toby devises a way to eliminate the threat from the other bookies and get them out of the business. Jude makes a bet with the two Italian bookies, letting them choose whatever game and winner they want, which ends up being a boxing match. Knowing the game would be fixed, Jude and the others liquidate all of their assets and bet all of their earnings on the boxing match. The underdog on which they placed the bet won. Some money went to pay off the Italian bookies, while the remaining spoils were divided amongst the three.

Jude drops out of school and Toby says that "he wasn't first genius to flunk out of college." Casey changes his major, gets new friends, makes the dean's list, and doesn't see Toby much. Toby continues at college and uses his money to get through grad school. He plays Hunter in a foosball match to win another chance with her after having lost her love through the ordeal.

Cast

• Nick Stahl as Toby
• Lukas Haas as Casey
• Johnny Galecki as Jude
• Rachael Leigh Cook as Hunter
• David Proval as Larry
• John Diehl as Vincent
• Julio Oscar Mechoso as Martinez
• Zuri Williams as Duane
• Dwight Armstrong as Abraham
• Steve Hudson as Julius Garrett
• Errol Trotman-Harewood as Professor Felix
• Catherine Britton as Tammy

Reception

Bookies received mixed to positive reviews; it currently holds a 67% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

External links

• Bookies at IMDb
• Bookies at AllMovie
• Bookies at Rotten Tomatoes