Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

jaw1907 Great cast, Great cinematography, Great musical score....don't get why this film never received the respect it deserved. Mark, Brie and Goodman at their best.

chuckstar-84668 I have seen a wide variety of good and bad, dark and happy films. A lot of the films are trying to impress a large crowd to reap in the rewards, however its rare to come across a film which is so intricately based on certain members of our society.Jim Bennett's character may be hard for a lot of people to watch it, which is the reason for the bad write up; however I have never connected or understood a character in a film like I did with Jim Bennett's. I am also sure this is the same reason why a lot of others love this film. Without being too crude, I felt a huge weight off his shoulders when he payed the loan sharks back, and to have a connection like this in a film excited and astonishes me. I also think Mark Wahlberg was the perfect man for this role, and he brought so much more to the film that I wasn't expecting. The film is called The Gambler, its based around gambling but yet it couldn't have anything any less about gambling, it focuses on the stress you bring on your self, the inner hatred and self pity, it also focuses on the strength of romance and inspiration, the two go hand in hand, and what Jim did was go from one extreme to the other. I also really liked the fact that his shirt gets brighter as the he gets closer to what he wants, even though he may not realise he is slowly achieving it.

FilmBuff1994 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

toddg-473-289818 It took me three sittings to get through this movie, partly due to boredom, and partly because I stopped caring what happened to Mark Wahlberg's character.THE GAMBLER is about Jim Bennett, who lives a double life as a college professor and a degenerate gambler. He quickly finds himself out of control, and in debt to more than one shady character. Even with his mother bailing him out, he proceeds to blow more money, seemingly not caring about the result.The problem with this movie is twofold: First, the script is written in a very theatrical way, with long soliloquies more befitting a Shakespearean character than a movie actor. Nobody in real life talks like that. Second, Mark Walhberg does not have the depth or ability to deliver these long speeches in any other way than a monotonous mumble. In addition, his character shows little emotional range, making the audience share his ambivalence, not caring whether or not he finds redemption in the end.The only entertaining contribution to this movie comes from John Goodman, one of the loan sharks to whom Mark Wahlberg's character is deeply indebted. Unfortunately, Goodman only plays a small role in an otherwise forgettable movie.