FOLLOW THE BITCH

Every Friday for the last 10 years, Andy, Karl, Ty and Blake have met faithfully at Bill's place for their all-night poker sessions. Now Andy commits the deadliest sins: he's getting engaged – and he's invited a woman co-worker to the table. “She's a chick, right?” neers one of the buddies. “How long can she last?” But cardshark Liz has more than a few tricks up her sleeve as she invades the all-male enclave, and by the time all the chips are counted everyone's deck has been reshuffled. The title refers to a game in which queens are wild, but you need not know poker to follow Julian Stone's ace feature about the war between the sexes played out on a green felt battlefield. Pull up a chair and deal yourself into this diamond of a comedy in which hearts are trump and the laughs come in spades.- Charles Cassady