A BAD ENDING ???

His relationship with his mother was dysfunctional.she was probally worth a few billion anyway.. She didn't need paying back but he needed to be out of her reaches. He didn't want contact. When he said he isn't a gambler anymore . He meant it. With his mother being around it was to easy to get money from her.. There would never be a last time even though she said it....

Yes I am probally making the film out to be smarter than it is. But it makes for a better ending.
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Regarding the lack of female roles in the film...the story just didn't call for many, except a couple, for plot purposes. I'm fine with that. The movie "Steel Magnolias" didn't call for many MALE roles, except for a couple, for plot purposes. Fine with that, too.

Regarding Jessica Lange's role being small, that doesn't mean it was a bad or weak part. It was a bit role, which she knew up front, but a key one. And actors/actresses really tend to love key/bit roles where they can play an eccentric or dark or idiosyncratic character and really chew up the scenery in their few minutes of key screen time. Ask Alec Baldwin how much fun he had in his 5-minute role in Glenngary Glenn Ross. Ask Jack Nicholson how much fun he had in his 8 minutes of (priceless) screen time in Terms of Endearment.

Regarding the final scene of The Gambler....I thought it was perfect. It would have been an absolute cop out if the writers/producers went with a typical "Hollywood ending", and wrapped everything up in a nice, comfortable bow. Life doesn't always work that way...and I was glad they gave this movie an appropriately dark ending, with a small glimmer of hope and relief. It would have been cheesy and cliche had he showed-up at his mother's door with flowers and a big bag of money...resolving all conflict. Their relationship was over, and that was tragic. But we learned all we needed to know about their relationship in their first conversation. And we learned about the cold, bitterness of her character even in the few words she said to her tennis instructor. And when she told her son she wanted to give him the money so she never had to see him again, she meant it.

This movie was dark and tragic. Not every movie is made to make us feel happy, resolved, whole and hopeful. Some movies are made to make us feel sad (Terms of Endearment)....enraged (Glory)...exasporated (Seven)....scared (Jaws)...freaked out (Requiem for a Dream), etc, etc. Movies, art, literature, etc....are designed to make us FEEL, but it doesn't always mean feel GOOD. And things aren't always nice and resolved. Such is life.

In the final scene of The Gambler, we see Mark Wahlberg's character risk his life with one spin of the wheel....and fate provided him a second chance at life. He was a shell of a man. A sad man with very little love, hope or dignity left in his heart. A self-destructive man in a spiral that would most certainly have ended in his death--which he was fine with. But when his student was threatened, the final and only card he could play was to risk it all on one spin. It worked. Fate finally ruled in his favor and gave him a way out. He took it and ran. Ran as fast as he could away from the darkness and out into the dawn. And he kept running until he could no more. He got out, and would never look back. The ending was perfect. It was bleak and tragic....but also had a glimmer of hope and relief. After going through hell with this character and coming out of it into the dawn, the audience in my theater was emotionally spent, but welcomed that hint of hope.

I've seen a few threads complaining that Mark Wahlberg's character wasn't sympathetic...or "likeable". Who said every character in a story needs to be..."likeable"?? Where is THAT rule written?? Was D'Niro's character in Cape Fear...likeable? Was Nic Cage's character in Leaving Las Vegas...likeable?? I saw a bit of myself, and my own demons in Wahlberg's character.....and it definitely wasn't likeable. But it resonated. *beep* if it didn't hit home. That's what movies often do. They make us FEEL. And it doesn't always need to be happy, resolved feelings. Wahlberg's character didn't need to run out of that vile, underground gambling hall into rainbows and sunshine. And when I walked out of the theater....neither did I. Just hope, and air.