The life of Jim Bennet, a young courageous man, who has a double life as a literature professor and a gambler, has been changed completely, when he takes a loan from a gangster, the thing that challenges his life, as he has to flee, in order to survive.
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.
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.
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.
As The Gambler becomes less about its protagonist's dashed intellectualism and more about the gathering danger of his predicament, the film gains power.
'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.
