House of Games (1987)

The film is a character study of Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse), a psychiatrist and best-selling author specializing in addictive behaviour. During a therapy session, she discovers that a patient owes a 25,000 dollars gambling debt. When she becomes involved on her patients behalf, she enters an underworld populated with fascinating characters. Dr. Ford is both strong and vulnerable, and Crouse exploits this ambiguity in a powerful central performance. Joe Mantegna is also a presence as underworld denizen Mike.