Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (2011)

Touches You

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

An abysmally produced and edited, stultifyingly boring documentary about a dismal group of "Christian" hypocrites who make their money counting cards at the blackjack tables of casinos — and frequently get tossed out on their ignoble behinds. Don't be fooled by the glowing ten-star reviews by one-review critics who clearly have a stake in the success of the film — this is as bad as it gets. The interviews with these miscreants — who essentially avoid having to do real work by spending their lives gambling in casinos — are endless and repetitive. They keep blathering the same self-serving excuses for their loutishness ad infinitum. The only few seconds approaching drama comes toward the end when one of the hypocrites is exposed as a thief, siphoning off the profits. What did they expect! Isn't it Psalms 337 that says "Lay thyself down with dogs and get thyself fleas"? Suffice it to say, if you re-edited this and threw all the interviews up in the air and edited them into the film wherever they fell, there would be no difference in the end product. And like most gamblers, the card-counting holy men are about the most snooze-inducing flat-affect zeroes you will ever encounter in film or real life. Who cares what they think or what their excuses are? They're nothing but garden variety hypocrites whose belief systems can encompass any aberration so long as there's something it it for them. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

I thought this documentary, directed by Bryan Storkel, was quite unique. It follows the actions of the blackjack card counting Church Team, from the years 2006-2009. It travels along two separate tracts.The first tract illustrates how the Church Team became reality, co-founded by Ben and Colin. Convinced that the methodology of blackjack card counting was solid, they decided to make it a serious business. However, they felt most comfortable with only those members who were Christian, had some affiliations with the Church, and had a sincere interest in the enterprise.There seems to be much rationalization of their endeavors not being contrary to the spirit or doctrine of their religion. Apparently, they feel it's not really gambling since, if applied correctly, the percentages of winning will always be in their favor in the long run. Some members of the team eventually could not reconcile the two and dropped out while others continued on.One aspect of the film that bothered me was the constant showing of huge wads of hundred dollar bills. Some team members seemed to wallow in the money and foolishly, it seemed to me, even disclosing how much they had hidden in home safes. Others talked about mortgaging their homes and putting every penny they had in the card counting enterprise.The other tract in the movie was the continual "dance" that goes on between the card counters and the casinos. Although, card counting is not illegal, apparently when spotted by casino management, they have the right to tell the player that they do not want their action anymore. This is called a back-off. The player is asked to leave, but if there is any hassle they may take the player into a back room for some intimidation or on rare occasions an arrest. Apparently, the card counters regard this as part of their job and it happens very frequently. I imagine I could get into a long rant about casino practices and how they want everything all the time in their favor, but I'll save that for another day.Overall, I found the film to be interesting and unique, and felt it was a decent watch.

Holy Rollers follows the rise of arguably the largest and most well-funded blackjack team in America-made up entirely of churchgoing Christians...This film raises the obvious question: is gambling and Christianity compatible? Is smuggling money through airports okay within Christianity? Lots of critics will say no. But that depends on how you define Christianity -- these guys also seem very okay with tattoos and cursing, so who knows? Also of interest, one member said he "hated" casinos. Can a Christian "hate"? Should they not love the casino, but hate the sin or vice? Some people have accused the entire film of being fake -- as an advertisement for a card counting business. Others have said none of the story is true, and some have called it scripted. I have no opinion on this one way or another, and cannot get into the reasons for these raised doubts without giving away spoilers...Real or fake, Christian or not, this is a must-see documentary.

This movie blew my mind. The distinction between true Christianity and religion is such a crazy line and this documentary attempts to look at one of those edges. There's tons of emotional ups and downs. I've seriously watched this movie more than five times it's so amazing. It's pretty accurate with a little bit of movie making liberty taken as to the order of the clips and the over-arching narrative. Personally I wish there was less drama surrounding a plot line and just more of the everyday issues that these people dealt with because some of them seem cool but some of them seem like legit wackos...not going to mention any names ;)Hope you enjoy it and regardless of your opinion of blackjack, card-counting, or faith I hope it makes you ask some questions