It's not black and white, good and evil, basically this movie is realistic. The characters are contradictory and nuanced. The themes are presented but not proven, leaving us to decide what they mean and how they apply to the story. This is a very 70s movie. I know it's a remake of a 70s movie, which I haven't seen (yet) so I have no idea how similar it is.
One thing this movie does is actually talk about gambling as a mental addiction. I know other movies deal with it but this really seemed to hit that hard. Jim Bennett seems to have it all, money and a good job, but he is unfulfilled and it seems that in the movie world if you have money then you're happy, this is of course not true. Rich people cant be sympathetic in movies, which they have all the same problems as the we poor people. I'd rather have Hollywood write about problems that they can actually draw inspiration from instead of trying to pretend that they're one of us. Which they usually don't do well.
With the emptiness that Jim has in his life he gambles and this is how he deals with his problems. This is what kicks the story off, his grandpa dies and to process this event he goes gambling and hits it hard. He wins several times in a row and then can't stop himself while he's ahead and loses it all. Twice.
Is he suicidal or not? Well, he is and he isn't, which I think is how a lot of suicidal people are. He doesn't care but he kinda does. He doesn't really try to fix his situation until it starts to threaten the people he cares about, which I think is what stops people from taking their life. And with the human connection he makes to Amy he finally opens up and admits that he isn't happy and what he actually wants. By having this realization he realizes that he does want to live. He is surrounded by young people that have their future ahead of them, just like he was when he wrote his book.
It makes sense that he would want to change his life after seeing himself though their eyes. Also the sharks he gets money from are all happy that he declines to go further into their life. Because they were all where he was at one point and are where they are now because they had to get out of debt and now it's too late.
And how does he get out of debt? The same way he got there. But since he has something to live for he stops himself when he wins. Which is how we get over our problems, by having something to live for.
This movie is full of great dialogue and ideas. Classic William Monahan. Criminally under rated in my book. He wrote Kingdom of Heaven, The Departed and directed the very overlooked Mojave, which also deals with many of the themes in The Gambler.
Mark Wahlberg does a very good job in this. He typically makes the same kind of action movies so it was good to see him showing what he can do. He's got something behind his eyes that I've never seen before with him. He has a distain for life in every move he makes. It feels like a put on to protect himself from people getting too close.
This movie is about being happy. What does it mean and how do you actually get there? Honesty. Jim was honest with everyone but himself.
One thing this movie does is actually talk about gambling as a mental addiction. I know other movies deal with it but this really seemed to hit that hard. Jim Bennett seems to have it all, money and a good job, but he is unfulfilled and it seems that in the movie world if you have money then you're happy, this is of course not true. Rich people cant be sympathetic in movies, which they have all the same problems as the we poor people. I'd rather have Hollywood write about problems that they can actually draw inspiration from instead of trying to pretend that they're one of us. Which they usually don't do well.
With the emptiness that Jim has in his life he gambles and this is how he deals with his problems. This is what kicks the story off, his grandpa dies and to process this event he goes gambling and hits it hard. He wins several times in a row and then can't stop himself while he's ahead and loses it all. Twice.
Is he suicidal or not? Well, he is and he isn't, which I think is how a lot of suicidal people are. He doesn't care but he kinda does. He doesn't really try to fix his situation until it starts to threaten the people he cares about, which I think is what stops people from taking their life. And with the human connection he makes to Amy he finally opens up and admits that he isn't happy and what he actually wants. By having this realization he realizes that he does want to live. He is surrounded by young people that have their future ahead of them, just like he was when he wrote his book.
It makes sense that he would want to change his life after seeing himself though their eyes. Also the sharks he gets money from are all happy that he declines to go further into their life. Because they were all where he was at one point and are where they are now because they had to get out of debt and now it's too late.
And how does he get out of debt? The same way he got there. But since he has something to live for he stops himself when he wins. Which is how we get over our problems, by having something to live for.
This movie is full of great dialogue and ideas. Classic William Monahan. Criminally under rated in my book. He wrote Kingdom of Heaven, The Departed and directed the very overlooked Mojave, which also deals with many of the themes in The Gambler.
Mark Wahlberg does a very good job in this. He typically makes the same kind of action movies so it was good to see him showing what he can do. He's got something behind his eyes that I've never seen before with him. He has a distain for life in every move he makes. It feels like a put on to protect himself from people getting too close.
This movie is about being happy. What does it mean and how do you actually get there? Honesty. Jim was honest with everyone but himself.