The Gambler Review

[Westside Steve]

The Gambler

Paramount

R 111 min

 

 

So like I often say I don't have children and I don't like other peoples. That goes double for grandchildren. So on Christmas Day your friend and humble narrator Westside Steve visits the family in Carroll County and heads for one of the films opening on Christmas Day. This year I had meager interest in another wicked witch or another desert war flick and had no interest in jumping on the publicity stunt bandwagon for the North Korean assassination show.

I do, however, love gritty redemption dramas centered on gamblers con artists and crooks. You know the kind that is so cool when they come from the word processor of David Mamet.

Well gang this one does not come from that fabled device but from the desk of James Tobak, the novelist director responsible for such great works as, well, nothing unless you liked Bugsy better than I did.

(It’s actually from his novel so I can't blame him for the screenplay or the direction here.)

Eccentric literature professor Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) has a dark side. When he's not trying to get his students to face reality he is an unrepentant and unsuccessful gambler.

Unfortunately the gambling establishments he chooses to frequent aren't the glitzy palaces on the Las Vegas Strip where the worst that can happen is you max out your credit card and go home in a barrel. These joints are the ones in which the collection agents are more likely to kill your friends and family and then you. Kind of makes you appreciate the girl at the back who calls to say your checking account is overdrawn.

He's now down hundreds of thousands of dollars to a variety of unscrupulous folks including the Korean underground casino, the black gangstas, loan shark John Goodman and his mom. His only chance at survival lies in his ability to convince one of his students, a gifted but not very scholarly, basketball player to participate in a point shaving scheme.

In order to make this type of film work you need to set up three things. First your main character has to be sympathetic which Professor Bennett is not. He's actually kind of an asshole and never makes any attempt to get himself out of debt.

Second you really need to hate the bad guys. Sure they are an evil bunch but it seemed to me they were bending over backwards to allow this guy to bail himself out.

Third it's always more fun when all the pieces of the puzzle fall together and make an exuberant climax. Here there is not much more thought involved than one would have with the flip of a coin. Oh I will grant there's a little cool repartee between Wahlberg and Goodman at the very end but not nearly enough to allow me to leave the theater on a high note. And did I mention the romance hook between the professor and Brie Larson never gets off the ground?

It's hard for me to take Marky Mark seriously but I admit he exceeds my expectations in just about every film. I don't think he can carry the day in the tradition of Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Christian Bale etc. etc. but he's solid when he's given a good script.

This particular script needed some work.

 

C

 

WSS