Directed by: Rupert Wyatt.
Written by: William Monahan based on the 1974 film written by James Toback.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg (Jim Bennett), Jessica Lange (Roberta), Brie Larson (Amy Phillips), Michael Kenneth Williams (Neville Baraka), John Goodman (Frank), Alvin Ing (Mister Lee), Anthony Kelley (Lamar Allen), Emory Cohen (Dexter), Domenick Lombardozzi (Big Ernie), George Kennedy (Ed), Andre Braugher (Dean Fuller).
Like
every film written by James Toback, the 1974 version of The Gambler is as much
a personal exploration of Toback’s own tortured psyche as it is a story. That
film told the story of a college professor, from a rich family, who gets in
deep in debt with a bunch of loan sharks to feed his gambling habit. He isn’t a
smart gambler – his basic strategy is to bet it all until he loses – riding the
high while it lasts, the whole time knowing that it cannot last for long. He
has a girlfriend (Lauren Hutton) – who is he basically horrible to, and
throughout the movie you get the sense that you are watching a man trying to
commit suicide – hoping to get so far in debt that he cannot get out, and
someone will kill him. By the end of the movie, he has, once again, got himself
out of debt – and decides to push even farther – in a confused ending that adds
a degree of racism to a movie that never addressed it before.
I wasn’t a big fan of the original film – it was fine,
with a great performance by James Caan, but the ending marred the film, and it
moved slowly throughout. For some reason, producer-star Mark Wahlberg wanted to
remake the film – a decision that is even odder when you see the film, since
gone is much of what Toback brought to the film – and it is replaced by style
and flash – the problematic ending has been changed to another problematic
ending. Yet the film, for all its faults, is incredibly entertaining from start
to finish. The original film was a flawed yet personal movie. The remake is
flawed and impersonal – seeming more like the product of a studio focus group
than a personal statement, like the original. Yet oddly, if I had to watch one
of the films a second time – I would easily choose the remake.
Wahlberg reteams with The Departed screenwriter
William Monahan in The Gambler. That film, probably gave Wahlberg his best role
to date (it was his only Oscar nomination so far) – and the dialogue in The
Gambler has the same snap as it did in that film – and Wahlberg handles it well.
He is all false confidence and bravado – and the movie gives a chance to
Wahlberg to swagger in a way he hasn’t in a little while. Like James Caan in
the original, Wahlberg plays a college professor from a rich family, getting
himself deeper and deeper in debt with the type of people he shouldn’t be in
debt to. He owes over $200K to Mister Lee (Alvin Ing) – who wants his money,
and warns of dire consequences if he doesn’t get it. To try and get it, he
borrows money from Neville Baraka (Michael Kenneth Williams) – who may just
kill Wahlberg for sport, after he laughs at Neville when they cut cards. To get
the money to pay them both, he asks his rich mother (Jessica Lange) – who gives
it him, and then instead of paying off the debt, he blows it all at the tables
once again. So he turns around, again, and borrows from Frank (John Goodman) –
most often seen in a sauna, breathing heavily and sweating, but letting him
know just how bad things will be if he doesn’t get his money. It looks like,
once again, the main character is suicidal – wanting someone to kill him. But
Wahlberg doesn’t really want to die – all he wants to do is completely destroy
himself, his life, his relationship with his family, his job – and everything
else. He hates himself so much he feels the only way to get better is to force
himself to start from scratch.
The other main character in the film is Amy (Brie
Larson) – one of Wahlberg’s students, who is working her way through school as
a waitress in one of the underground casinos Wahlberg frequents. In class,
Wahlberg basically berates his students – mocking their goals of becoming
writers, saying that unless you’re a genius, you have no business trying to
write. He thinks Amy is that genius – and lets the entire class know this as
well, during one of his “lectures” – that seem more like public meltdowns than
anything else. Still, Amy decides she likes Wahlberg – and seduces him into a
relationship with her. The relationship doesn’t work in the movie – we never
get to see why precisely Wahlberg thinks she is a genius, and the film never
gives us an indication of what either character sees in the other. Still,
Larson makes the character work a whole hell of a lot better than it has any
right to. Larson is one of the best young actresses in Hollywood – so effortlessly
charming, funny and sexy. She handles the fast dialogue with ease – and she has
a real chemistry with Wahlberg, even if the screenplay doesn’t give the
relationship any reason to work.
Like Larson, the rest of the cast is similarly game –
handling the great dialogue well, and disguising the fact that all of the characters
are one note. Especially great is Williams and Goodman – who are so good that I
wish the whole movie was about them. The direction by Rupert Wyatt is also very
good – yes, he overdoses on style, but with a screenplay that movies this fast,
but is also this shallow, that helps. I especially liked the musical choices –
which seemingly is mainly made up of great covers or 1970s songs – I guess if
you’re remaking a 1970s film, you may as well fill up the soundtrack with
remakes as well.
The Gambler is far from a great movie – but it is a hell of a lot of fun. No, it doesn’t have the personal touch of the original film, but I don’t think that’s really a bad thing. The original The Gambler felt rather self-indulgent, with a lot of retrograde attitudes about masculinity, gender, sex and race. The remake may lack a personal touch – but that’s not such a bad thing in this case.
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