Rupert Wyatt's discordant, second-rate remake of the acclaimed 1974 movie starring James Caan sports a fatal flaw: viewers are forced to spend nearly two hours with a spoiled, self-destructive protagonist. By day, Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) works as an English professor at a Southern California college, spouting Shakespeare and Camus, while berating his students in classes that resemble bizarre group-therapy sessions. At night, Bennett gambles. When the story begins, he's nearly a quarter-million in debt to a Korean mobster (Alvin Ing) with only a week to repay. Every time his rich mother (Jessica Lange) bails him out, Bennett goes back to the blackjack or roulette table, where his compulsive high-stakes “double or nothing” wagering brings him into contact with one crooked loan shark (Michael Kenneth Williams) after another (John Goodman), along with a state tennis champ (Emory Cohen) and a basketball star (Anthony Kelley). Revising director Karel Reisz and screenwriter James Toback's original concept, the story is moved from New York to Los Angeles, where the tone devolves into snarky, superficial slickness. A miscast Wahlberg seems ill-at-ease as an intellectual (he is far more convincing in blue-collar roles), although Brie Larson is solid as Bennett's most gifted student and, eventually, girlfriend. Since she works as a waitress at the casino, she knows about Bennett's addiction, and she astutely observes, “You're one of those guys who started out with no problems at all, and now you have all of them.” A weak update, this is an optional purchase. [Note: Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (24 min.), the production featurettes “Dark Before Dawn: The Descent” (17 min.), “Mr. Self Destruct” (14 min.), “In the City: Locations” (10 min.), “Changing the Game: Adaptation” (9 min.), and “Dressing the Players: Costume Design” (8 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing remake.] (S. Granger)
The Gambler
Paramount, 110 min., R, DVD: $29.99, <span class=SpellE>Blu</span>-ray/DVD Combo: $39.99, Apr. 28 Volume 30, Issue 3
The Gambler
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