The Color of Money

7.5/10 stinky bananas

Good movie. Could've been great.

Scorsese made pool cool. That's quite the accomplishment. The only thing more boring than billiards is baseball. Pretty impressive work. Casting Tom Cruise and Paul Newman also helps. Those are two cool cats right there.

I was captivated by this movie. All the way until the end. And then it lost me. The ending sucks. Is the whole point of the movie to get Paul Newman to unretire from pool? I don't really understand the significance of that. It feels as though the ending is detached from the events of the movie itself. What I mean by that is the movie does not play out as a "comeback story". Everything that occurs in the first 2/3rds of the movie is the old vet (Paul Newman) coaching up the raw, untapped potential of Tom Cruise's character. Then they swerve at the end, and Paul decides to pick up the pool stick again. What's so great about that? Who cares if this old man gives pool another kick at the can? I want to see Tom Cruise overcoming the obstacles and reigning supreme with the help of his mentor. Is that too much to ask? Fix the movie, Scorsese. I'm clearly a better director than you. Idiot.

Anyway, all the pool scenes rocked. The first hustle scene. The one where Tom dances to Werewolves of London. Reverse hustle Forest Whitaker scene. The tournament scenes. All great.

That's all. See ya.