Play like a pro with expert knowledge from a champion of the game

If you don't know the ins and outs of play, bridge can seem like an intimidating game--but it doesn't have to be! Armed with the techniques and strategies in the pages of this book, you'll be bidding and winning hands like a boss! A good book for beginners, it has lots of advanced techniques useful to experienced players, too. This is as  close to an all-in-one bridge book you can get.

 

 

About the Author

H. Anthony Medley holds the rank of Silver life Master, is an American Contract Bridge League Club Director, and has won regional and sectional titles. An attorney, he received his B.S. from UCLA, where he was sports editor of UCLA's Daily Bruin, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is the author of UCLA Basketball: The Real Story and Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed and The Complete Idiots Guide to Bridge. He was a columnist for the Southern California Bridge News. He is an MPAA-certified film critic and his work has appeared nationally in Good Housekeeping, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and other publications. Click the book to order.
 

  

 

The Gentlemen (8/10)

by Tony Medley

113 minutes

R

This starts out with a scene in which British crime boss Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) is shot in the head. It immediately jumps to Fletcher (Hugh Grant) trying to sell Raymond (Charlie Hunnam) on some scheme. What kind of scheme? Aye, there’s the rub.

The problem or allure, depending on your POV, of this comedic film is that it is so convoluted you really don’t have a clue about what’s going on. It jumps back and forth between Fletcher and Raymond and a bunch of backflashes to tell who Mickey is and what he has done. It doesn’t immediately (or even anytime soon) become very clear until the absolute end.

Written and directed by Guy Ritchie, it has very good pace in its own convoluted way. It is filled with violence, but one saving grace is that there isn’t the idiotic car chase that seems endemic to this genre.

While the acting is very good throughout, the movie belongs to Hugh Grant, who is selling a movie idea. Grant has given many delightful performances (2002’s About a Boy for instance) but this is far and away the best he has ever done.

I have to admit that I didn’t much like it for the first half. It seemed too cute by half and really proud of itself. But as the story unfolds and what is going on becomes clearer (sort of), I found myself enjoying it more and more.

 

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