Smokin' Aces is a 2006 crime drama film, written and directed by Joe Carnahan, set in Lake Tahoe, and primarily shot at MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa (renamed the "Nomad Casino" in the film). It marks Carnahan's third feature, following Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane and Narc. It stars Jeremy Piven and Ryan Reynolds as the leads, with Piven as a Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant and Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him. It is the feature film debut of both R&B artist Alicia Keys and Common.

Plot

Agents Messner and Carruthers are staking out crime lord Primo Sparazza's estate. Sparazza, one of the leading members of the Mafia, has become bedridden with a heart condition. Monitoring a telephone call between Sparazza's underbosses, they learn that Sparazza has put out a $1 million hit on Buddy "Aces" Israel. He also wants Israel's heart brought to him before he dies and has hired a man called the "Swede" to retrieve it.