The Gambler | Reviews | Screen

http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/the-gambler/5079877.article?blocktitle=REVIEWS&contentID=40296

Tone trumps all in The Gambler, an exercise in studied
cool that’s commendably idiosyncratic, although ultimately not to any
great effect. Chronicling a week in the life of a gambling addict whose
mounting debts may finally prove his undoing, this character drama is
more a meditation on existential despair than a traditional crime
thriller. To be sure, The Gambler follows its own rhythm,
sometimes delightfully, but one can’t shake the feeling that producer
and star Mark Wahlberg simply isn’t the right man to portray such a
weary neo-noir figure, failing to plumb the depths necessary to give
this meandering film its magnetic centre. Even if not a lot happens in The Gambler, its low-key pace is refreshing, peculiar, almost subversive.