The Gambler
Jim Bennett, is a risk taker. He is a professor leading a double life as a high-stakes gambler. When he borrows money from dangerous gangsters, he places the lives of his loved ones in mortal danger and must risk everything to keep from losing it all. Always one step ahead, Bennett pits his creditor against the operator of a gambling ring and leaves his dysfunctional relationship with his wealthy mother in his wake. He plays both sides, immersing himself in an illicit, underground world while garnering the attention of Frank, a loan shark with a paternal interest in Bennett's future.
25 March 1976, Bronx, New York, USA
22 November 1966, Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
15 October 1957, Rockford, Illinois, USA
18 February 1925, New York City, New York, USA
26 May 1938, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
28 May 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA
April 12, 2016
This remake not only fails to justify its own existence, it very nearly calls into question the necessity of the material in any form.
January 07, 2015
Though Wahlberg is a fine actor, there's no way I can buy him as a college English professor holding forth on Shakespeare and Camus.
December 26, 2014
It's just like the Kenny Rogers song says: "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." It's time for this "Gambler" to walk away.
February 25, 2016
Watchable scene-to-scene as an old-fashioned character study.
June 11, 2016
Some casting decisions should never happen-Shaq as Tinkerbell-hmm... actually that might be fantastic, scratch that. But Mark Wahlberg as a professor of literature? Just no.
January 09, 2015
The dialogue never leaves the surface and the running across Los Angeles that happens in the last sequence is supposed to thrill you, but it's such a cliché that your embarrassment extends to the crew member who has to follow with the camera.
December 30, 2014
The hopeful ending comes off as too little, too late. Wahlberg gives the role his all, but sticking with him is a futile gesture. The Gambler never pays off. It's a sucker's bet.
June 07, 2016
'The Gambler' is just shy of a great movie - it doesn't quite add up like it should - but it is a reminder that there's a very fine actor lurking in Mark Wahlberg.
June 12, 2015
A lame remake of the 1974 original, this Gamble doesn't pay off
December 26, 2014
An agreeable if ridiculous slice of old-school Hollywood machismo ...
June 27, 2015
Mark Wahlberg is intense and compelling... but his character's self-destructive behaviour strains the viewer's sympathy almost as much as it strains that of the people around him.
December 27, 2014
As The Gambler becomes less about its protagonist's dashed intellectualism and more about the gathering danger of his predicament, the film gains power.
