The Gambler (2014)

The summation that kept running through my mind as I watched this film is that it was smarter then it needed to be but less smart then it thought it was. The Gambler stars Mark Wahlberg as a college literature professor who comes from a wealthy family and has a major gambling addiction. Films about addiction, and I'm thinking particularly of Preminger's The Man with the Gold Arm, can some times come across as kind of full of themselves, and I'm afraid this one did to an extent. Wahlberg's character makes a lot of really stupid decisions and it can be hard to like him, which is not a great problem to have with your movies protagonist. Interestingly this movie is based on another movie also called The Gambler, but not Kenny Roger's The Gambler, James Caan's The Gambler. The supporting cast here is quite strong, with Jessica Lange, John Goodman, and (briefly) George Kennedy in his final film role. A pre-Room Brie Larsen is also in this. **1/2