"Pupi Avati takes a significant step forward from the offbeat light comedies that are his trademark to venture into shadier and more resonant psychological realms. Avati deals out weightier roles for this homespun drama of the card table, without abandoning the comic touches that have earned him a regular Italian audience. The only remnant here of Avati's wacky Bologna-based humor is Carlo Delle Piane (Best Actor, Venice Film Festival, 1986), a lascivious eccentric with a weakness for cards and apparently the means to be a big loser. Roped into spending Christmas Eve in an empty villa with four friends intent on taking him for all he's worth, the supposed industrialist catalyzes relationships among the conspirators gathered around the felt-top table. In the tradition of male-bonding films, women are drooled over in fantasy, married in flashback, and lied to on the phone, but love, hate, and longing are exchanged between men only." -Deborah Young, Variety