The Gambler

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

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 have read few unfavourable reviews about The Gambler mostly saying the film is not gripping enough. I disagree. At no stage did i lose interest in what was going on and i thought the tension was palpable at times. A really good leading performance from Mark Wahlberg and it's good to see Michael Kenneth Williams ( Omar Little from The Wire ) in a big role. If i had to be picky i would say that the three people who Jim owed money to could have been a little bit more menacing and the ending is a little bit confusing ( or that could just be me ! ). Overall though an entertaining , enjoyable movie which also has a great soundtrack.

"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.

I like Walhberg as an actor, and I think he's a good actor. This role was a different step for him. I would not have imagined Mark as a one hit wonder novelist turned lit professor from a wealthy background who seems on the road to self destruction due to his gambling habit. He's pulling on his ability to drive a movie, and it works.

It's good that Wahlberg's performance was great (despite being very out of content form what we'd expected from him). The movie in itself was not really that good. I felt it acted too much like a sitcom with all our problems being fixed and wrapped up in a thirty minute format (or in this case two hours). Mark Wahlberg made you believe in how real this guy's problems were only for the story itself to contradict that.

Mark was not alone in carrying the movie as he also had help from the always great John Goodman, who could have used a lot more time in the film, and Micheal Williams who played a great antagonist to Mark's protagonist

For the most part, the movie was humorous and charming all thinks to the acting chops of Markie Mark. I don't know if the academy will take notice, but we all should.