Marked By My Casino Heir
starring: BELLA MRAZ & MARK VEGA
CIA Agent Evelyn goes undercover as an heiress at the Grey Casino, to avenge the death of her sister, and bring down the mafia gang. Soon she is entangled with the mysterious Grey brothers, Lucas and Isaac...and just what is venom?
REVIEW
Oh I so wanted to love this one on Vigloo. The story is great, and wonderfully ambitious for a vertical: undercover CIA agent and her team, the casino, the whole Club Venom concept, tarantulas and antidotes, action scenes and fight sequences
We have a female lead with agency, and then 2 brothers battling for their dads affection - one seeking redemption whilst the other has sold his soul. Plus an excellent henchman with Snake Eyes, and some nice nods to Mr James Bond, the phrase Live and Let Die 🎲 is in there
But the dialogue. Oof the dialogue doesn't work. It veers all over the place from cliche to OTT dramatic to trying to be more nuanced. It seems to have multiple personality disorders and comes out as clunky and at times unintentionally funny.
You have 3 strong leads here with Mark Vega, Bella Mraz and Connor Tuohy - all superb actors
But it doesn't flow and I think that is because they are constantly wrestling with this dialogue. If they are struggling to make lines work something has gone wrong. And it does mean that with some of the supporting work things can get a bit wooden. It's beyond frustrating as the set up and styling of this project is so good. I don't know if actually too many people were involved in the script, it feels like lots of different people have added lines in
And there are some missed golden opportunities
- Isaac has his Commodus scene, would have loved him to be given more around this and a descent into madness
- the best bits with Lucas are when he is looking for redemption, lean into this
- Evelyn is a strong, sassy character, give her lines that reflect this
And make sure we know why they fall in love
I'm being a bit grumpy here because this could have been one of the best verts ever. The potential is there.
I love the ambition, and really hope that we see more in this vein, and I am sure the dialogue will follow, as I know there are a lot of talented writers in the space.
REVIEW
⭐⭐
💖 Top swoonworthy moment:
Ok we have the antidote kiss. But I don’t know why these 2 are in love. We go from an interrupted date, action scene and then they are passionately in love. Possibly Lucas thinks she can redeem him? I just didn’t get it. When Lucas first tells Evelyn he loves he I shouted at the screen ‘why?’
🦹🏼♂️ Top villain award:
Fathers and sons. So many problems caused in Vertland by dads favouring a son - I mean calling Lucas the alpha isn’t the way to go it is. So Isaac of course has daddy issues, and ends up going full Commodus.
😂 Comedy gold:
I’ve talked about the dialogue in the review. So let’s go for Lucas (Mark Vega) smashing a henchman’s head into a counter and also hitting the service bell which gives a very satisfying ping.
🎺 Unsung hero:
Whoever the stunt choreographer was - some good fight scenes here, I mean Lucas gets to hurl someone off a balcony, and Evelyn holds her own with her shooting skills.
✍🏼 DETAILS
2025
Available on Vigloo
