The Gambler (2014) * *

Directed by:  Rupert Wyatt

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Michael K. Williams, Jessica Lange, Alvin Ing

Jim Bennett (Wahlberg) is a gambling addict who may not be lucky at gambling, but he sure is fortunate to owe money to guys who are this reasonable.    What is Jim's plan to pay back Mr. Lee (Ing), to whom he owes 250 large?    Demand that Mr. Lee stake him for another $100,000.    I'm reminded of John Cusack's line in High Fidelity, "This is like being turned down for one dollar and then asking for $50,000".     The drama is sucked out of The Gambler because we kinda sorta know that Jim would be ok.    Why should we care then that Jim continues to get in deeper?   

Wahlberg's Jim is seen at the beginning blowing a whole lot of money on bad beats in blackjack and roulette.    He is trying to win $200,000 to pay off the aforementioned Mr. Lee.    He asks another gangster named Neville Baraka (Williams) to stake him for $50,000, which he promptly blows also.    Now he's in deep with two gangsters who have flunkies that like to beat up people.     At first he asks his rich mother (Lange) for the $250,000, which she gives him after some minor fuss.    Instead of paying off the gangster, he shows his girlfriend around a casino and blows that too.   

Jim has a day job.    He's an associate professor at a local college.    He wrote one book that was ever published and has spent recent years trying to reclaim that lost glory.    His classes are a sight to behold.    He spends a great deal of time making long, self-aggrandizing speeches full of expletives and putdowns.    His class should be one that students drop in the first week.    Maybe they do.  

Jim's girlfriend is a pretty female student who moonlights as a waitress at Mr. Lee's establishment.    She knows of Jim's other life as a degenerate gambler and is intrigued by this moody guy with a death wish.    Despite Larson's attractiveness, her character isn't developed past more than an obligatory girlfriend our hero must spend time with in between casino visits.

Wahlberg spends a lot of the movie looking sloppy, disheveled, and gaunt.    He certainly has a self-destructive streak which is evident.    Why else would he gamble away $250,000 that he could have paid off his creditors with?     Unlike Owning Mahony (2003), in which Philip Seymour Hoffman played a gambling addict, The Gambler sees its hero not as sick or even an addict, but just a guy with very bad luck.     Jim is supremely cocky and is never allowed to be seen as fearful for his life or controlled by something that is bigger than he is.    Dan Mahony, the gambler in the 2003 film, is someone who lives and dies by the thrill of the action.    Jim Bennett isn't seen as someone who even likes the action.  

The gangsters Jim owes are much more fun to watch than Jim.    Michael K. Williams was great on Boardwalk Empire as loyal bootlegger Chalky White.    He exhibits depth here as a gangster who has ulterior motives in trying to persuade a college basketball sensation to point shave.     Alvin Ing and Goodman are consummate pros who may feel a bit of pity for Jim.     These gangsters are certainly not run-of-the-mill, but as depicted in this screenplay are far too reasonable to be a threat to our hero.    If you consider the amount of leeway they seem to give Jim, it is amazing these guys ever get paid back by anyone.    With that evident, we realize Jim is not in danger and thus the tension is gone.    What is the point then?