MovieChat Forums > The Gambler (2014) Discussion > WORST MOVIE EVER MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

WORST MOVIE EVER MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted 9 years ago by DjokerFan
58 replies | jump to latest

You got one of the most despicable and pathetic main characters ever in a movie, a middle aged professor who:
-Has a severe gambling addiction and needs help
-Pursues a relationship with someone who is young enough to be his daughter, not to mention it's one of his students which opens up a bunch of conflict of interest issues
-Borrows 6-figures from his mother at the expense of his connection to her (the same mother he was still living with!)
-Exploits another student for the benefit of someone he got himself in trouble with
-Puts his entire family's well-being on the line for yet another loan from yet another loan shark

And it all works out for him in the end?????? Why should we care at this point???

Just because the title of the movie is The Gambler doesn't mean the main character had to be a complete scumbag with ZERO redeemable qualities.

[–] jellyree 9 years ago

Yes, but; you see I "IGNORE" for upper case and excessive punctuation, so goodbye.

Perhaps the OP just wants to reach out for some sense of community.

[–] DjokerFan 9 years ago

Yes, but; you see you clicked on my post, clicked the reply button, and started typing away just to let me know that you are "IGNORING" me, so hello.

Perhaps the respondent just wants to sound like a holier-than-thou prick.

[–] freemanpatrick7 9 years ago

Perhaps the respondent just wants to sound like a holier-than-thou prick.

I think he got you there

Soylent Green is people!

[–] Eudocia508 9 years ago

Haha! Thank you! I just suffered through that horrible movie. I guess I just wanted to see what happened. AWFUL! So glad I didn't pay to see this! Yes, Jim Bennett had NO redeeming or sympathetic qualities at all! A main character HAS to have SOMETHING! I could go on and on but why bother! You said it--I don't know about "worst" movie ever--but worst movie I've seen in a LONG time! I came here to see what people said about it and yours was a welcome post after enduring this! I'm glad to see other people think it was bad. Mark could use some improvement in his diction, too. He was supposed to be an English teacher, after all! Classroom scenes totally unbelievable and heavy-handed. HATED IT!

[–] mihaitirziu 9 years ago

From the writer of the departed
How can you claim that in the ads when the only thing the guy did was adapt a Hong Kong phenomenal movie ? unoriginal repetitive same role over again for Wahlberg please stop milking the movie goers I can't believe it can be so predictable save money don't go
when can we expect an Oscar for Wahlberg ... seems that anyone gets it these days

[–] El_Guapo_Caballo 9 years ago

Perhaps the respondent just wants to sound like a holier-than-thou prick.

Yup, OP got you there, all right

[–] onerichard 9 years ago

This is the story. Why do you need to have the main character have redeeming qualities?

[–] DjokerFan 9 years ago

"Why do you need to have the main character have redeeming qualities?"

Why do you need to accept a main character for being a complete waste of life just because "This is the story?"

I don't need a main character to have redeeming qualities; it's just that the movie made him so much more pathetic than they had to yet still wanted us to view him as some sort of protagonist by piting him against a myriad of equally unlikeable characters. By the time of the final bet I really don't care if he lives or dies. In fact it would have been better if the ball landed on red and they killed him, then the movie could have some saving grace by warning us about the dangers of gambling.

Plenty of movies with unlikeable or flawed characters still give me some glimmer of a reason to feel good when things work out for them. This movie gave me none of that. Nothing was accomplished, nothing was learned. The movie left us with no reason to care that he broke even and no reason to believe that his double life really was over.

[–] eve_campbell 9 years ago

I really hope that you just dont have the attention span to understand this movie. It`s really clear-cut. Or maybe you just went to the loo with your mommy to do some peepee during the scene with the student in the desert. Because that one spells it out for the dumbest of viewers who missed the 649 hints that came before.

[–] Kompressor_Fan 9 years ago

This is the story. Why do you need to have the main character have redeeming qualities?

In a suspense film where the suspense is derived from the central character being in peril, it is essential that the audience can sympathize with him, at least on some level, even if he is a bad or somehow "compromised" person. If the character is so utterly despicable that the audience does not care either way if he lives or dies, then there is no suspense. THIS is The Gambler's fatal flaw.....

 The bad news is you have houseguests. There is no good news. 

[–] onerichard 9 years ago

OJ Simpson was the main character in the story of his murder trail.

The day the verdict was read on live TV, we all held our breath to wait to hear it.

Most people thought he was going down, but then the not guilty verdict came out.

I don't have any sympathies for OJ, but the trial, and especially the verdict reading was suspenseful and "riveting".

So, I agree, I didn't really have sympathy for this main character (Walberg's) either, but that last spin of the roulette wheel was suspenseful all the same.

[–] Kompressor_Fan 9 years ago

Apples and oranges....to the point of being a non-sequitur.

 The bad news is you have houseguests. There is no good news. 

[–] intrepidami 9 years ago

Mark Wahlberg went around denouncing casinos in his publicity tour. It would help if they showed the character being somewhat sympathetic, instead of somebody you want to see lose.

[–] everydayboredom1980 9 years ago

A lot of good movies have main characters who are really unlikeable.

The problem here was more in the execution.

I don't think the movie was awful, it was average IMO.

[–] jackal07 9 years ago

awful awful movie... i cant agree more and my retarded friend said its the best ever... that idiot

[–] wingnut9 9 years ago

It's tough to spend two hours with a main character who is a complete douche.

[–] Eudocia508 9 years ago

LOL I hated the college girl for liking him! I was really hoping for a different outcome to the last bet. How can anyone root for such a totally unsympathetic character. Sure, main characters can be unlikable--but they have to be at least interesting!

[–] onerichard 9 years ago

James Caan's Axel was a complete douche...probably more so than MW's character and some say the 1974 was a masterpiece.

[–] gpxdlr 9 years ago

Agree. Why was this movie even made? I wanted my 2 hours back yesterday. I'm a gambler and I look like those pathetic people sitting by the machines looking depressed. I expected more from Mark, this should not be put on his resume.

[–] BoSoxRule 9 years ago

Was he actually living with his mother? I must have missed that.

[–] r-soyack 9 years ago

All of that would have been ok if you cared about the character. I didn't care, one way or another, what happened to him. I only cared about the movie ending, except for John Goodman. I repeated his speech on a conference call the next working day.