El apostador

Despite being tedious and annoyingly creating its own problems, The Gambler is still a really good drama that manages to come to a very satisfying conclusion. Mark Wahlberg is great. Brie Larson, John Goodman and Michael K. Williams all give really good supporting performances. Rupert Wyatt's direction is also really good. The soundtrack is excellent and the music by Theo Green and Jon Brion is good.

"Eventually a debt gets too big to pay." Jim Bennett (Wahlberg) is an English professor at a major college, as well as being a high stakes gambler. He isn't very good at either. When he falls into an insurmountable debt to a ruthless loan shark one life begins to bleed into the other and his life, and the lives of those around him, is in danger. Going in I thought this movie could go 1 of 2 ways. It could either be tense and good, or slow and boring. After watching it I would have to say it is more tense and good, but also nothing amazing. I did like this quite a bit and recommend this, but it just seems like they could have done so much more with this character. Another down side of this movie is that it is pretty much like every other movie about gambling. The best part of this movie is John Goodman, but he is so under used that it is a little upsetting. If he was in it more the movie would have been better. Overall, a movie that I did ultimately like and recommend but it is a little generic and lacking the punch it was going for. I give it a B.

This movie is about a man who has given up hope on achieving his dreams and is trying to make his pain stop by engaging in self destructive behavior... his weapon of choice is gambling but he is not a gambler. He says so multiple times. I have read the many negative reviews of this movie and I think people are really just missing the point. He wants a real love and something real to do every day and if he achieve anything beyond mediocrity then he would rather be dead. People who can relate with that sentiment will love this movie but perhaps no one else. If you enjoy a movie that makes you think a little and go beyond what's on the surface. The movie is not about gambling... it is about finding inspiration and hope.

I read some reviews here I can see that we have mixed feelings about The Gambler. Some hate it, some love it. I thought it was an okay movie to watch once. I didn't think it was that boring like some want to make us believe. Mark Wahlberg plays a gambler that isn't very passionate about his life anymore. He just searches for somebody to live for, to give him some passion in his boring life. Due to his lack of passion for anything he creates big debts and he doesn't really care about it. Maybe the debt collectors should have been a bit more violent to make the movie more satisfying to some but to me it was okay. Michael Kenneth Williams gave us a good performance as well. John Goodman with a smaller role was also good in his typical way. I found the soundtrack of the movie really good. It just fitted really well with the story and ambiance. Unlike others I wasn't bored at all with this movie. I certainly saw worse movies then this one.

The Gambler is a decent movie with a reasonably well developed plot and a great cast. Mark Wahlberg makes some very interesting acting choices in this movie, losing weight for the part and portraying the character in a way that really stretches beyond his usual style. I also loved the chemistry between him and Brie Larson, it was definitely the strongest aspect of the film, in my opinion, as it was pure and felt very real.

The structure to this film is a bit of a mess, we are given a bunch of plot points and different reasons for this character to be in dept. It was clearly trying to overwhelm us with this characters situation, however, it just took me out of it when they began to throw too many things at me at once.

As well as that, we are never given a real reason to like the character of Jim Bennett, he is irresponsible and everything that happens to him is entirely his fault. He may have redeemable qualities, but not enough for me to support him. He does pull through towards the last ten minutes of the movie, but that does not make up for ninety minutes of him being an arrogant, self centred individual.

It has it moments, but there are a lot of movies similar to this that are much better. Good performances, but lacking in originality, The Gambler shines on few occasions, and I would not recommend it.

An obsessive gambler must get his life together to pay off his debts and be with the one he loves.

Best Performance: Mark Wahlberg