Paul Thomas Anderson's stunning directorial debut. A mysterious, immaculately dressed gambler named Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) takes a young drifter named John (John C. Reilly) under his wing and teaches him how to survive in the casinos of Reno and Las Vegas. But as John starts to build a life with a cocktail waitress (Gwyneth Paltrow) and befriends a volatile casino worker (Samuel L. Jackson), Sydney's hidden past begins to catch up with all of them. A hypnotic neo-noir chamber piece that announced one of cinema's great voices.