Review – Atlantic City

Imagine Willy Loman as a superannuated numbers runner and you’ve got the gist of this critically-acclaimed Louis Malle movie. Burt Lancaster does a yeoman’s job as an old, low-level mobster who gets the chance to pretend to be someone important when he comes by a load of cocaine and the ready cash he makes from selling it. This is one of those twisty little stories in which everyone ends up tied to everyone else. In particular, our “hero” latches on to a oyster-shucking ingénue (Susan Sarandon) who dreams of dealing cards in Monte Carlo. Though Lancaster comes across as a little too old for the mid-life crisis he appears to be having, this is nonetheless an interesting portrait of middle-aged American masculinity. Beyond that, though, there’s an interesting parallel between the man and the city he lives in, both faded, both apparently anxious to relive days that never were. Mildly amusing