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Lives in survival mode have a special karma category. No matter how audacious the circumstance may seem, the truth is when a life is barely hanging on the bad luck flows freely and the support system is nil. "The Poker House" is that type of survival story, and bestows a sense of constant dread against a sea of horrid conditions.

Jennifer Lawrence portrays Agnes, a high school senior who tries keeping her body and soul together while living in "The Poker House", which is the nickname her Iowa hometown has given what in reality is a brothel. Her mother Sarah (Selma Blair) is one of the main working girls, so Agnes does her best to clean up after each raucous night and care for her two sisters, Darla and Bee (Bee is in a foster home).

Agnes has two big secrets. One is that she excels in virtually every education or extra curricular task, including the submission of poetry for the local paper, and the other is she tragically loves her Mom's pimp. Those two battlegrounds in her life collide in a 12 hour period, which results in a day of infamy for both realities.

The writer and director is Lori Petty, the actress probably best known as "Tank Girl" or the sister of Geena Davis in "A League of Their Own." The Poker House classifies itself as the director's "based on fact" autobiographical story, but the action is stretched so thin and is so cruel that it doesn't have any credibility.

The story is set in 1976, but is full of glaring anachronisms (haircuts and clothing) and inappropriate-for-the-era language. As someone who full remembers those times, I felt like expressing the old debate punchline at the screen, "I know 1976, 1976 is a friend of mine...and this setting is no 1976."

But besides the problem with period (the narrative easily could have functioned in present day), the emotional content was inconsistent and false. This could be a byproduct of Petty's "true" story, but none of story's background elements complemented the actions or reactions later. It was all about confrontation and desperate flagellation. I just didn't believe that Agnes could have these divergent characteristics, especially the saintly savior. It crushed the belief in her persona.

The cast gamely tries to deal with this material, with special consideration going to Lawrence's portrayal of Agnes. She was able to communicate the horror of The Poker House and did seem most vulnerable when her back was right up against it. But the jekyll/hyde elements were too much even for her talents.

No faces, no aces, this movie folds.

Pat McDonald is a Chicago based film critic and writer. Read his reviews and articles at...

http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/patrick-mcdonald
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