Poolhall Junkies will have you hooked

Poolhall Junkies is the story of Johnny Doyle (Mars Callahan), a young pool shark who, as his dodgy manager Joe (Chazz Palminteri) points out, is a hustling artist because he doesn’t just con his victims, he makes them like it as well.

But Johnny’s getting fed up with it all and he decides to hang up his pool cue when his girlfriend Tara (Alison Eastwood) gives him a straight choice — get a proper job or hit the road.

She’s particularly annoyed when her millionaire uncle Mike, played superbly by Christopher Walken, takes a shine to the young rebel. Mike, a pretty mean pool player himself, sees Johnny as the ideal hustling partner.

The young cue-meister gets his chance to leave his hustling life behind when he finds out double-crossing Joe conned him out of the chance to turn pro so that they could remain partners.

He dumps Joe and tries to go straight despite his obvious love for the game and the respect he gets from his younger brother and his friends.

Meanwhile, Joe, vowing revenge, takes on top-ranked pro Brad (Rick Schroder) as his new protégé to even the score with his former star, one way or another.

Despite a fairly limited storyline, the cast do their best to deliver a finished product with enough funny lines and good scenes to make it all worthwhile.

This ain’t no Hustler, but it’s worth a look.

Drama, 18. ***