John Travolta’s ‘High Rollers’ Panned by Critics, Moviegoers
Posted on: June 12, 2025, 12:52h.
Last updated on: June 12, 2025, 01:00h.
- John Travolta’s newest film is titled “High Rollers”
- The casino heist flick is being met with negative reviews
- The movie was partially filmed at the Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort in Mississippi
John Travolta has made some classics during his prolific career, including “Saturday Night Fever,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Grease,” “Get Shorty,” and “Primary Colors.” The longtime A-list Hollywood icon, however, has also made his fair share of duds. His latest movie release might be considered the latter.
“High Rollers,” a sequel to “Cash Out,” the 2024 picture that dealt with Travolta’s character, Mason Goddard, robbing a bank, continues to be released in limited theaters in the United States and the United Kingdom. So far, critics and audience members have largely panned the 102-minute movie.
In “High Rollers,” Travolta reprises the role of Goddard. This time around, the career criminal must break into the safe of a casino resort to have his kidnapped girlfriend, played by Gina Gershon, who also starred with Travolta in “Face/Off,” returned.
“High Rollers” was partly filmed in April 2023 on-site at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Scarlet Pearl along the Biloxi Back Bay. Travolta was back in town earlier this year to film a follow-up to “High Rollers” that will be released next year.
The third installment in the “Cash Out” series might be a bit premature, as there might not be a big appetite for a trilogy after what some critics said was a major Hollywood dud.
“High Rollers” Busts
On IMDb, Travolta’s latest movie has just a 3.8/10 rating based on more than 1,000 reviews. On Google, 53 reviews average a score of just 1.6/5.
Leslie Felperin, a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and The Guardian, dubbed “High Rollers” a “cheap-ass knockoff of ‘Ocean’s Eleven.'” Her review didn’t get kinder from there.
‘High Rollers’ is a heart-slowing work of staggering stupidity and charmlessness, ineptly made and quite frankly dull except when its flaws become so egregious you can’t help but guffaw,” Felperin opined.
Felperin also took aim at the Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort itself, where some of the filming took place, which is billed as a luxury casino in the movie.
When we see its interior — all lurid carpeting and easily wipeable soft furnishings — it looks less like Monte Carlo’s finest than the kind of seedy regional gambling den that the producers could hire cheaply,” Felperin declared.
Writing in Screen Rant, critic Mary Kassel said “High Rollers” is “neither fun nor engaging” and left her “wondering when it would end.”
Travolta’s Worst
Is “High Rollers” among John Travolta’s worst movies? It faces steep competition, as Travolta has made some infamous movies in the past.
Travolta has been nominated for 11 Golden Raspberry Awards. The Razzies are parody awards recognizing the worst cinematic productions and performances each year.
Travolta won Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple with “anyone sharing the screen with him” in 2001 for “Battlefield Earth.” He was nominated for “Worst Actor of the Decade” in 2010 for “Battlefield Earth,” “Domestic Disturbance,” “Lucky Numbers,” “Old Dogs,” and “Swordfish.”
He additionally won the Worst Actor Razzie in 2020 for both “The Fanatic” and “Trading Point.” Other Travolta flicks receiving Razzie nods include “Staying Alive,” “Two of a Kind,” “Perfect,” “The Experts,” and “Gotti.”
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