• About Us / Contact
  • Responsible Gambling
This site contains commercial content
SportsHandle
  • US Sports Betting
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Louisiana
    • Maine
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Mississippi
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • Ohio
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Virginia
    • West Virginia
    • Wyoming
  • Pending States
    • California
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Missouri
    • North Carolina
  • Canada
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
  • Sportsbook Apps
    • FanDuel
    • BetMGM
    • Caesars
    • PointsBet
    • BetRivers
  • Tools
    • Sportsbook Bonuses Explained
    • Sports Betting Revenue Tracker
    • Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Partnership Tracker
    • Expected Value
    • Sports Scores And Odds Apps
    • Sports Betting Twitter
  • News
No Result
View All Result
SportsHandle
  • US Sports Betting
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Louisiana
    • Maine
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Mississippi
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • Ohio
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Virginia
    • West Virginia
    • Wyoming
  • Pending States
    • California
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Missouri
    • North Carolina
  • Canada
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
  • Sportsbook Apps
    • FanDuel
    • BetMGM
    • Caesars
    • PointsBet
    • BetRivers
  • Tools
    • Sportsbook Bonuses Explained
    • Sports Betting Revenue Tracker
    • Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Partnership Tracker
    • Expected Value
    • Sports Scores And Odds Apps
    • Sports Betting Twitter
  • News
No Result
View All Result
SportsHandle
No Result
View All Result

Best Betting Scenes: ‘Mississippi Grind’ And A Stretch Run To Remember

A platonic rom-com portrays a pair of betting buddies we all know and love

Mike Seely by Mike Seely
February 20, 2023
in Features, Horse Racing
George Pimentel/Getty Images

George Pimentel/Getty Images

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The “Best Sports Sports Betting Scenes in Television and Movies” series returns with a look at the ramblin’, gamblin’ road-trip flick, Mississippi Grind. Spoilers abound.

Is romantic comedy, as a genre, in peril? The New Yorker seems to think so, but 2015 brought us one of the great rom-coms ever made, the gambling road-trip flick Mississippi Grind.

Released not long before Deadpool vaulted Ryan Reynolds into another stratosphere of stardom, Mississippi Grind stars the Canadian heartthrob as Curtis, a charismatic drifter who bumps into a sad-sack realtor named Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn) at a poker table in an Iowa casino. The two men lock eyes and smile, their mutual attraction evident from the first glance. 

A cocktail waitress asks the table if anyone would like a drink. Gerry says he’d like a bourbon — “the cheap stuff.” Reynolds orders a Woodford and says he’ll buy Gerry one, too, despite it being considerably higher-end. Having run out of Woodford, the waitress brings them a pair of Bulleits instead, their infatuation sealed by a pair of glass tumblers.

Mississippi Grind is not a rom-com in the traditional sense. Similar to Sideways or Rain Man, it boasts a surplus of platonic, same-sex tenderness, and an obsession with games of chance is the tie that binds.

No type of gambling is off-limits in Mississippi Grind, all the way down to Curtis walking up to an outdoor basketball court in New Orleans and betting $100 that he can beat the best of a group of young Black men in a game of one-on-one. 

A rung above that is a wonderful scene, presumably shot at the Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque, where Gerry makes a bet on a dog to place. It wins the race. He cashes the place bet, of course, but is upset, in retrospect, that he didn’t also wager on the dog to win.

Curtis tries to get Gerry to leave the track and enjoy a night of carousing, saying, “It don’t get any better than this.” Degenerate that he is, Gerry gambles on a chance to stay, telling Curtis, “Next guy that comes out of the bathroom is wearing glasses, we stay.”

The guy cinching his belt on the way out of the can is wearing spectacles, and Gerry proceeds to piss away his winnings.

A bettor who doesn’t know any better

Back downtown in a dark bar, Gerry asks his “lucky charm,” Curtis, to “go down the Mississippi” River with him and “hit up all the action along the way … home games, gambling towns.” He also asks Curtis to stake him $500, admitting he owes a bunch of people money due to his recent run of bad luck.

Curtis agrees to stake Gerry $2,000, and the pair head south in the latter’s Subaru hatchback.

After much Americana and the inevitable encounter with some gold-hearted hookers, Curtis and Gerry wind up at Fair Grounds Park in the heart of New Orleans with a duffel bag full of cash. Curtis wants to play it safe and bet the favorite, a horse named Mississippi Grind, while Gerry is hellbent on backing a longer shot, Toto’s Revenge. Curtis ultimately agrees to bet on Toto’s Revenge — or so he says.

The scene that ensues is one that will look familiar to anyone who’s ever visited a thoroughbred racetrack on a weekday afternoon, when the grandstand is absent the sort of pomp and circumstance that would accompany a more lucrative stakes race. As the race begins, Gerry rises from his seat, alternating his gaze from the track to a television set showing the same race. He’s smacking his program in his hand as he loudly implores his horse to hold on to an early lead.

You know where this is going: In the stretch, Toto’s Revenge is collared by Mississippi Grind. At this point, Curtis whips out a hundred-dollar bill, hands it to Gerry, tells him to buy a bus ticket home, and says, “It had to end this way.”

Unless, of course, it didn’t.

Rolling the dice on love

After Gerry storms out of the track, his rollaway suitcase crashing down the grandstand stairs, Curtis heads to a betting window and cashes a ticket worth upward of $5,000. It turns out he’d placed a big bet on Mississippi Grind without telling Curtis, and the duffel bag is replenished.

Predictably, Gerry doesn’t head to the bus station. Neither does Curtis. Left to their own devices, they continue gambling, and both get punched in the face.

By chance, they reunite at a poker table at a Louisiana casino. His lucky charm by his side, Gerry orders a pair of Woodfords — and catches a major heater. Up some $250,000 at a craps table, Gerry decides to bet it all on a single roll. After some initial trepidation, Curtis replies, “I’m not afraid.”

If that’s not love, what is?

ShareTweetShare
Mike Seely

Mike Seely

Mike Seely has written about horse racing for The Daily Racing Form and America’s Best Racing, and has contributed pieces on a multitude of topics to The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He can be reached on Twitter (@mdseely) or via email at [email protected].

Related Posts

kentucky-derby-mid-race-photo
Legislation

One Georgia Bill To Legalize Sports Betting Fails In Senate

March 2, 2023
Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Promotions

BetMGM Bonus Code: SHNEWSDM – Deposit Match up to $1,000 for Independence Bowl

December 23, 2022
Load More

Top Stories

taylor mathis

Taylor Mathis Got Sacrificed At The Altar Of Responsible Gambling

March 20, 2023
fanduel baseball wall

Premade Same Game Parlays Are Sucker Bets

March 13, 2023
maginfier-over-small-print

Read The Fine Print: A Proposed Federal Rule Could Change Everything For Indian Gaming

March 6, 2023
roman reigns wwe

Colorado Denies Report Stating That It’s Considering WWE Wagering

March 8, 2023

State Sports Betting Guides

Ohio (U.S. state) flag waving against clear blue sky, close up, isolated with clipping path mask alpha channel transparency, perfect for film, news, composition

Ohio Sports Betting – Where To Play, Bonus Offers And Promo Codes

by Brian Pempus
March 21, 2023

Downtown Detroit at twilight (Shutterstock)

Michigan Sports Betting – Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks, And FAQ

by Brett Smiley
March 21, 2023

VA captial

Virginia Sports Betting – Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks And Bonus Offers

by Brett Smiley
January 17, 2023

nj flag

New Jersey Sports Betting — Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks, And FAQ

by Brett Smiley
October 20, 2022

pa online sportsbooks

Pennsylvania Sports Betting – Where To Play, Online Sportsbooks And Bonuses

by Brett Smiley
October 6, 2022

Canada Sports Betting Guides

Canada Sports Betting – Best Sportsbook Apps & Bonus Offers

British Columbia Sports Betting – Legal Update, Available Sportsbooks, and FAQ

Ontario Sports Betting – Legal Status And Where To Play

SportsHandle

  • Analysis
  • Casino
  • Features
  • Horse Racing
  • Industry
  • Legal
  • Legislation
  • Opinion
  • Podcasts
  • Poker
  • Politics
  • Promotions
  • Regulation
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized

Better Collective

This website is owned and operated by Better Collective USA. Trademarks and copyrights referenced on this website are and shall remain the exclusive property of their respective owners and/or licensors. Please be sure to visit the operator’s website(s) to review their terms & conditions. We advise you to read these carefully as they contain important information. Copyright © 2023 USBets.com | Better Collective USA
21 Play Responsibly
Gamble Aware West Virginia
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.
GameSense

Search Sports Handle

No Result
View All Result
  • About Us / Contact
  • Responsible Gambling

No Result
View All Result
  • US Sports Betting
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Louisiana
    • Maine
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Mississippi
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • Ohio
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Virginia
    • West Virginia
    • Wyoming
  • Pending States
    • California
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Missouri
    • North Carolina
  • Canada
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
  • Sportsbook Apps
    • FanDuel
    • BetMGM
    • Caesars
    • PointsBet
    • BetRivers
  • Tools
    • Sportsbook Bonuses Explained
    • Sports Betting Revenue Tracker
    • Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Partnership Tracker
    • Expected Value
    • Sports Scores And Odds Apps
    • Sports Betting Twitter
  • News

loading

Please wait while you are redirected to the right page...