Jennifer Lawrence is a better actor than many others twice her age. The story however is horrendous and depraved. Selma Blair was not a good choice, though she gave an admirable performance, was not convincing as a desperate drugged out prostitute. Some of the storytelling was weak. The message of the movie is a cautionary tale of what taking drugs and living a fast life will get you, and about children overcoming adversity. A believable yet depressing story that in the end felt incomplete.

The Poker House is a film that takes the wost situations that one can face at the age of fourteen and compresses them all into one day. Is it necessarily believable that all of this can happen in a single day? No, but it doesn't matter. You forget the implausibility and become emotionally invested in the lead character and her problems with the world. This film will hit home for people who experienced something like this, or can empathize with the situation for whatever reason.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this movie but it had Jennifer Lawrence so I figured I would watch it and turned out that the movie wasn't horrible also Selma Blair was awful.