Moonshine and a Movie: The Poker House
Lori Petty.
How’s that for a blast from the past? I absolutely loved her in the ’90s. Kit “I like em high” Keller, Tank Girl, and Tyler from Point Break - she played some of the best quirky characters of the time.
Here’s the other cool thing about being a demi-star, the paparazzi hounds were not hiding behind every tree on the street. It was possible for an actress to maintain a secret until she was ready to tell it. It would seem that Lori Petty had a very big secret that she wasn’t sharing.
The Poker House is the story of three sisters (Jennifer Lawrence, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Sophi Bairley) raising each other amid prostitutes, pimps, and junkies. Written and directed by Petty, the story retells a day in her life growing up as a child whose entire world is filled with constant abuse and abandonment.
At no point does this feel like a “Look At What I’ve Been Through and Feel For Me” story. You will feel for them anyway.
I have no idea why this movie has never received more notice. The cast is absolute perfection, and I would have thought the film would have at least received a bit of retro-notice when Lawrence and Moretz started shooting past their peers in acclaim. Somehow, it remains a hidden gem on their IMDB resumes. Selma Blair deserves the highest praise for her portrayal of a strung-out prostitute with so many more concerns than the three girls she brought into this world. She is somehow capable of making us loathe her… wait, no — sympathize with her… wait, no — hate her again; through the entire movie.
This is a movie best approached with a clean slate. I wouldn’t even watch a trailer before viewing if I were you. Some tales just have to unfold naturally, and this one would be ruined if you spent the movie waiting for any given moments.
I will say that if you are like ProFan Matthew and have a very strong attachment to any of the actresses featured — especially current Oscar contender Jennifer Lawrence — you may want to have a trauma blanket handy for after the show is complete.
Released in 2008, The Poker House is available on Blu-ray and DVD.
