BLUFF

By Mike D'REWS

TAVISTOCK FILMS - as PROD

Drama - Development 2026

When his successful poker-mum has a stroke and loses everything, her sweet natured son is thrown into a murky world where he must gamble their future. She goes to extreme lengths to teach him the game, but events take things way beyond the cards.

    • Year of production
    • 2026
    • Genres
    • Drama, Comedy
    • Countries
    • UNITED KINGDOM
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH
    • Budget
    • 3 - 5 M$
    • Duration
    • 110 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Mike D'REWS
    • Writer(s)
    • Mike D'REWS
    • Producer(s)
    • Janet SMITH (Tavistock Films)
    • Synopsis
    • A molly-coddled recent graduate who's never had to face the harsh realities of life, must quickly become the breadwinner of the household. His wheelchair bound mum, got them in to this damned mess through poker. And she believes that's the only way to get them out of the crap.
      His by-the-book efforts to raise cash are undermined when he discovers the scale of the debt. The book is well and truly thrown out the window when their mysterious creditors ransack the house and attack mum.
      Their predicament forces him to step in to mum's world. A world on the fringe of his reality. Her training programme embarrasses and horrifies him in equal measure. From the groping of a woman, to the drag scene in Soho. From illegal medical procedures to facing his fears with a criminal parkour chef. She shows him the ropes of a game where only the hardest liars prosper.
      His life takes a turn for the better when he pulls his feisty friend, holds his own at the poker table and wins the respect of his mates. Only for his composure to be thrown into turmoil when his new girlfriend is kidnapped. He suspects the guy who wiped mum out. So with his head in a spin and the police kept at arms length, he must keep his cool and own this guy at an all-or-nothing game of poker.
      When the fateful night of THE game arrives his nemesis has our hero isolated. But the son is beasting him at the table. In a desperate attempt to destabilise him our bad guy brings a gun to the table. The son springs into action turning the gun on his opponent, only to find it to be theatre prop. The villain is not who he appears. It dawns on him that mum is in fact the puppet-master of this whole insane charade.
      The epilogue sees mum banged-up behind bars, visited by her smarter sharper looking son. She has the care she needs and the son she always wanted.