The Gambler (2014)

This is my first ever IMDb review, but I felt compelled to write it. I'm usually pretty partial to Wahlberg's movies, but this thing is just awful. I get what the movie is about, the self loathing and self destruction. The acting in this is just so flat, and boring and poorly directed. The script is ridiculously bad.

Wahlberg seems to think blurting out his poorly written dialog as fast and as unintelligibly as possible equates to a convincing portrait of an academic. It doesn't. He seems to think that acting bored equates to the portrait of a deeply troubled self destructive man. It doesn't.

Perhaps it improved dramatically after the hour mark, but I wouldn't know. For the first time in what must be 2 years, I gave up on a film. It was so terrible, not only did I fail to engage with any one of the characters or any aspect of the story at all, I was actively hating it! I could feel the movie literally vacuously and worthlessly sucking away my time like the most boring vampire that ever existed.

Bad script, woeful acting, weak direction, poor cinematography, weak soundtrack. So yeah...um...I didn't like it much.

Fmovies: I never thought I would see the day when Mark Walberg appeared in a bad movie. Of course the usual clueless eggheads and elitist wannabes had to give it rave reviews because, in their minds, some jittery screen effects made a boring, classless movie 'artsy.'

The movie was boring, the dialog was inconsequential and dragged out, and there was no plot or theme. The characters, including the main character, were not developed at all and the romantic interest was basically a one night stand that at the end of the movie was made out to be Romeo and Juliet. By the end of the movie and the so called "surprise twist' I couldn't care less about whether Walberg's character won or lost, lived or died. The only redemption was the superb acting by Walberg and Goodman, but they didn't come anywhere close to saving this movie. It was simple boring and nonsensical. I'm glad that I saw this on 12/31/14, because if I had seen it a day later, then it would have ruined the New Year for me.

Now I understand why people pirate movies. After getting their pockets picked by movies like this, it is only right that they would look to pick the pocket of Hollywood right back. Do yourself a favor and see any other movie. Even Plan 9 from Outer Space would be better than this dog.

The Gambler tells the story of Jim Bennett, a college professor with a dangerous and self destructive addiction to gambling at underground casinos in the underbelly of Los Angeles. His addiction soon begins to effect his professional and personal life to severe and deadly consequences. The Gambler features great performances from Mark Wahlberg and Jessica Lange along with flashy and stylish direction from Rupert Wyatt. Much like the 1974 original, The Gambler is very much so a character study. We see Wahlberg's Jim Bennett in every scene, and see him make every bet, lose every hand and blow every dollar without shying away from Wahlberg. This is a new, transformed and extremely mature performance from Mark Wahlberg. He is in top form here, delivering a career best performance along with the physicality of a twig. It is certainly a better portrayal of a teacher than what we see in 2008's horrendous misfire The Happening. When we see Wahlberg in The Gambler he loses himself in long monologues that never once will make you question his validity in this part. The supporting cast features Brie Larson, Jessica Lange and John Goodman. Each give amazing performances, especially Goodman who steals some scenes from Wahlberg with colorful monologues filled with expletives and subtext that is classic William Monohan but it does grow tiring after awhile. The screenplay written by Oscar winner William Monohan is far from a perfect script but it is very interesting and keeps your attention. It doesn't pack the punch The Departed did, but it gets the job done. Rupert Wyatt proves that not only can he do a big budget action spectacle as Rise of the Planet of the Apes but he can also deliver hard hitting drama. My only issue was that Martin Scorsese is such a huge influence here in filmmaking style that you start to wonder what it would be like if Wyatt just stuck to his own style instead of trying to capture something that is clearly above his talent because it does backfire on multiple occasions especially during its Hollywood-fueled finale. For a film as dark as The Gambler, the ending just simply doesn't fit and feels more like a studio ending rather than something that would be true to the film and true to the original vibe of it all. Overall, The Gambler is a fitting remake that fails to capture the essence of the original but displays Mark Wahlberg in a career changing performance that shouldn't be missed.

The Gambler fmovies. Yesterday evening watched this movie and loved it, couldn't take my eyes off.

This is not a gambling movie, this is a movie on pain. Existential pain. The character, Jim, played amazingly by Mark Wahlberg is the essence of it.

Grown up in a rich family. Intelligent. Always been told he's the smartest & talented person in the room. But deep inside he feels mediocrity. Be is bored to the hilt. He doesn't f***ing care about cars, money, his looks and even women anymore.

This is a movie about feeling alive, taking risks in life, because without a risk you're a mediocre bum, you are essentially dead. And this is exactly how Jim is feeling. Everything he does is to escape that, his flamboyant teaching, his gambling, his f*** you mentality.

Deep inside he feels he has to put it all on the line, everything, his family, all his money, his life even. Doing this is the only thing that can essentially set him free.

He's s stubborn and cocky f*** knowing that his only release is giving everything up, be humiliated, be on the ground and that's the basis of becoming a new and free man.

Coming down to the existential reason for self destruction, first we need to burn everything down, before me can build a new city on top of it.

This is his escape from his addiction, his ego & his depression. Life is a high stakes game.

Perfectly done in a grim & tense setting. Loved it, very inspiring. Thanks for making this movie!

The dark 1974 movie "The Gambler", starring James Caan, I thought was the definitive film about compulsive gambling. Although this modern version gives credit to James Toback (writer of the 1974 movie), I'm sorry to say I found this film to be beyond ridiculous, with incredibly stilted and pretentious dialogue, as well as absurd characters and situations.

I will say the acting, given to what they have to work with, is top notch with Mark Wahlberg leading the way as Jim Bennett, an associate professor of literature at a college. He comes from an extremely wealthy family, but is a totally obnoxious, insulting jerk, who seemingly has a "death wish" regarding his compulsive gambling.

Michael Kenneth Williams is also excellent as Neville Baraka, a loan shark and gambler, while John Goodman gives his usual most solid performance as Frank, another loan shark and mobster. Poor Brie Larson, who has to play the role of Amy Phillips here. She's one of Jim's students, and apparently a genius of a writer, but the more she sees Jim destroying himself with his gambling she cluelessly becomes even more attracted to him. Good luck with that!!

To me, this was quite the disappointment from two talented filmmakers, the director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Escapist), and the writer William Monahan (The Departed).

All in all, I'm sorry to say I found this movie to be far inferior to the 1970's classic, and a major disappointment for me.

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.