In most gambling movies, you can count on the “stake me” scene — that is, the moment that our struggling anti-hero must depend on the kindness of one skeptical benefactor to get him back into the game for one last score. The new film from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Mississippi Grind, has that exact scene (and we’ve got an exclusive clip from it below), but why would you need to reinvent the wheel when you’ve got two actors who can spin it as skillfully as Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds? In particular, watch below as Emmy-nominated Bloodline scene-stealer Mendelsohn works his magic on Reynolds: His character is almost manically excited about a new gambling notion that would take both men to New Orleans, but all it takes is some gentle prodding from Reynolds before Mendelsohn droops and exposes the full depths of his despair.
