The Gambler - Movie Reviews

By the end, it's difficult to care about Jim as Wahlberg represents him.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 13, 2022

Potentially gripping, but never generates enough tension...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 27, 2021

Wants to be a philosophical look at life's big issues, using Bennett's fall from grace as a backdrop, but in the end delivers Hollywood cynicism.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2021

Ultimately, it's an examination of addiction and the largely alienating effects this particular one imparts - the kind infrequently touched upon by mainstream cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 4, 2020

No matter how finely feathered the hair or slim and trim the figure, Wahlberg is simply one of the glossy mistakes Wyatt's film trips over.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 19, 2019

will leave you out of pocket and feeling cheated for watching

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 5, 2019

Thanks to the presence of Goodman, Larson and Lange we're presented with a stacked deck, so how come it feels like we spend two hours holding the bridge rules card?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 17, 2019

The dreamlike imagery, editing, and soundtrack invoke the haze of addiction, but the writing never follows through with the message, leaving us unstirred, with little to take home and think about.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 20, 2019

The Gambler is a solidly acted and directed piece that somehow can't decide what kind of film it is

Full Review | Feb 23, 2019

THE GAMBLER doesn't amount too much, except a story of a walking existential crisis looking for his pacifier, which is conveniently located at a blackjack table.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Dec 8, 2018

Wahlberg loses, and The Gambler craps out.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Feb 16, 2018

Wahlberg is a miscast... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Dec 13, 2017

You're just going to spend the two hours annoyed by all of the stupid decisions Bennett makes.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 2, 2017

Directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), the film is glossy and shiny, giving it a superficial sheen that doesn't make any sense.

Full Review | Oct 17, 2017

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 11, 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.

Full Review | Jun 7, 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.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Apr 12, 2016

Watchable scene-to-scene as an old-fashioned character study.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Feb 25, 2016

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.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2015

A lame remake of the 1974 original, this Gamble doesn't pay off

Full Review | Jun 12, 2015