Synopsis
Literature professor Jim Bennett leads a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. Always a risk-taker, Bennett bets it all when he borrows from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. Staying one step ahead, he pits his creditor against the operator of an illicit gambling ring while garnering the attention of Frank, a paternalistic loan shark. As his relationship with a student deepens, Bennett must risk everything for a second chance.
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Cast
- Mark WahlbergJim Bennett
- John GoodmanFrank
- Brie LarsonAmy Phillips
- Michael Kenneth WilliamsNeville Baraka
- George KennedyEd
- Jessica LangeRoberta
- Richard SchiffJeweler
- Andre BraugherDean Fuller
- Emory CohenDexter
- Domenick LombardozziBig Ernie
Recommendations
- 83
Hitfix
This is a film that is quietly confident. Everything's well-composed. Everything's put together right. There's a very sure hand on the wheel here, and at this point, I'm sold on Rupert Wyatt as a guy who can tell a story with a certain kind of intelligence, both towards his subject and towards his audience. - 80
The Guardian
This spiral of self-imposed despair feels like part three of a trilogy of American financial darkness after Killing Them Softly and The Counsellor. The Gambler isn’t quite so audience-unfriendly, but those looking for a typical Wahlberg thriller might come away disappointed. Others looking for a less sure bet might reap the rewards. - 75
IndieWire
For all the hundreds of thousands of dollars being thrown around, The Gambler is much closer to a friendly game of poker with some loquacious, quick-witted friends than a glimpse at the gambling world’s dark underbelly. Neither is it a preachy moral tale. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
In nearly every scene, Wahlberg carries off the central role with what could be called determined elan. - 67
The A.V. Club
In any case, none of the gambles Jim makes over the course of the movie are as ballsy as the film’s casting strategy. Will audiences really buy Mark Wahlberg as a wordsmith too brilliant for academia? Smart money says no. - 50
Variety
A movie of slick, surface-level pleasures that’s unpersuasive at its core. - 50
The Playlist
A genre exercise such as this needs invention, and while Wyatt trots out a slick stamp on proceedings with a game cast, his version never works up steam enough to render the effort worthwhile. - 43
TheWrap
A cover version is pretty much what this do-over of The Gambler represents, with the rougher edges mixed out and sweetened. It's no mystery why actors and directors want to relive the magic of American studio movies from the fabled 1970s, but if you're not going to take the risks that the originals did, or illuminate as much about the characters, why redo them at all?
