vchimpanzee Desson and Barry are best friends who intend to move in together after they graduate from high school. Knowing he will be alone after Desson's mother has apparently died, Desson's loser of a father is planning to sell their house.Desson and Barry attend a high school wrestling match. Barry is constantly texting Paul on his cell phone. When Barry believes Sam took a dive, Barry confronts Sam in the locker room and they get in a fight. Desson convinces the coach that Barry and Sam were fighting over a girl, but the coach sentences both Desson and Barry to detention. Barry doesn't show, but Desson meets the beautiful Colleen, who he invites to Paul's basement in a nice upper-middle-class house. Young people come there and gamble and drink alcohol secretly. Paul's mother doesn't really seem to approve but allows the activity as long as she doesn't get in trouble; Paul's father has left. Barry and Desson both owe Paul lots of money, and Paul is getting very demanding. One day Desson goes over to Barry's house, and Desson and Barry's sister Heather make a terrible discovery. Barry has apparently hanged himself. Desson believes his friend was murdered and is determined to find out why. A phone message suggests a local Chinese restaurant may have a connection to Desson's death. Benson, one of the high school students who gambles at Paul's place, reluctantly admits to going to this restaurant but says it must be kept secret. It is also possible that Paul is in debt to someone there. And we may find out what Sam was doing.It's a somewhat interesting mystery. Nothing outstanding or above the level of a TV-movie, but still enjoyable. There is occasional humor, much of it provided by Hrothgar Mathews as the sarcastic Coach Fortier.And among actors with more lines than the coach had, to me, Julia Maxwell stands out from the rest of the cast. She's not only great looking but has a nice if edgy personality and brains.Tyler Johnston is pretty good too in the lead role. Other worthwhile performances come from Jaren Brandt Bartlett as the young man who lets people gamble, Robert Moloney as Desson's father (especially when stoned), and Scott Patey and the somewhat nerdy Benson who likes to take risks.The sound went out a lot during this movie. Usually, this was accompanied by a character's mouth being obscured. So if you see this unedited, you have been warned. There is also some violence but not too much.It's a worthwhile effort, just nothing you haven't seen before.

carolbielbs The Odds has an interesting take on high school students living a double life in a secret, dark gambling world. It starts off with the main characters texting bets to underage bookie Paul (Jaren Brandt Bartlett) on their high school wrestling championships.The depths of character development really added to the plot of the death of Barry over the greed that goes hand in hand into the gambling world (such as the Death of the main characters mother, the evidence that slowly creeps up over Barry, and the main characters father's struggle with his career and grieving over his wife). Davidson possesses a keen eye for filmmaking, instinctively knowing how to build tension without a great deal of unnecessary stylization and filler material. This movie touches on a lot of demographics because of these deeper character profiles and the ending of the long spider-web like connections that developed because of this secret gambling society that made perfect sense at the end of the movie. I loved that this was a Canadian movie also!

Nicole Hamilton Tyler Johnston's character deals with the suicide of his friend Barry (Calum Worthy) in the first act, but refuses to believe it; and instead comes to the conclusion he must have won big from the wrong people. Luckily, the chemistry with these characters carries you through the rest of the movie superbly, as it casts notable actors with up-and-coming talent. The action sequences and dialogue are enough to keep you intrigued throughout the movie. The great thing about it is once you get attached to a character, or think you have them figured out; you turn out to be completely wrong, which is something I love in a film. Definitely worth taking a chance on.

Tony Heck "I think Barry went there last night and I think he won some money." When Desson (Johnston - who looks just like a young Tom Cruise) finds his best friend Barry hanging by a rope in his garage he is stunned. Desson remembers debts that Barry owed and begins to think that his friend didn't kill himself but was murdered and has a few suspects in mind. He joins in an underground poker game to try and flush out the murderer. This is a movie that had a really good premise and I had pretty high expectations for it. I know it was another B movie but I was actually interested in seeing how they pulled it off. The first half hour was pretty entertaining but then it slowly started to drag and was hard to stay interested in toward the end. The idea and plot is almost nothing like what I expected. The general idea was there but I was expecting something different then what this was. I know it seems like I'm repeating myself but I was really disappointed by this movie. Overall, it was OK but I was expecting more of a thriller mystery I guess. I give it a B-.