Mark
Wahlberg is The Gambler; or more precisely a gambler (but that wouldn’t make
such a catchy title). He’s not the anything. He's really just another guy who can’t quit while he’s
ahead, finds it impossible to think about the effects that his actions could
have on others, and drowns in his own debts as his addiction spirals out of
control. Wahlberg plays Jim Bennett who, while not gambling obscene amounts of
money away, is a miserable literature professor telling his students to give up if
they aren’t geniuses. Bennett is in no way a fun guy to spend nearly two hours
with; it is all or nothing for him, hence why he soon gets himself into debt
with the proprietor of an underground gambling ring and a dangerous loan shark.
The Gambler
is a puke-inducing film with a morally warped message; it is nihilistic and
bleak in its depiction of addiction but then pulls off one of the most ludicrously
happy endings in film history. Bennett is an utter shit, impossible to root for,
or to fully understand what has turned him into this arrogant, addicted mess of
a man. He uses his students in the crudest ways, cares nothing for those around
him (including his mother who bails him out of his huge debts) and gambles his
life away. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bennett never truly suffers for what
he does. Even with all those stereotypically dodgy criminal ethnic minorities
around him, Bennett only takes a minor bruising despite all their threats.
The Gambler
has some great music on the soundtrack, some attention grabbing editing and
most surprisingly of all, manages to remain mostly engaging, even as Bennett
continues to make stupendously stupid decisions. John Goodman gets the best role while Wahlberg tries hard to convince as a professor, but succeeds far
more at being at being the self-confident but selfish gambler. Apparently this
is a remake of a James Caan film from the 70s. Who wants to bet that the
original is infinitely better?
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