Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg joins forces with Academy Award winner Jessica Lange in Paramount's high stakes thriller The Gambler from director Rupert Wyatt.
The film centers around Jim Bennett, a risk taker who pulls double duty as an English professor and a high stakes gambler. Always playing both sides of the situation Bennett plays both sides of the line when he borrows big from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. Working to stay one step ahead Bennett pits his gangster loaner against the operator of a gambling ring, putting his rather unusual relationship with his mother, as well as the one with the student he loves at risk. When Bennett catches the eye of a loan shark with an interest in his future, he must question just how much is worth a second chance.
I have come to respect both Wahlberg and Lange as neither has steered wrong as of late, especially when it comes to a December release. That being said, the film reminds me heavily of last year's American Hustle, both in style and tone. I'm intregued but still have some questions after catching this just released trailer. We'll all find out when the film hits theaters on December 19th.
About Stephen Davis
I owe this hobby/career to the one and only Stephanie Peterman who, while interning at Fox, told me that I had too many opinions and irrelevant information to keep it all bottled up inside. I survived my first rated R film, Alive, at the ripe age of 8, it took me months to grasp the fact that Julia Roberts actually died at the end of Steel Magnolias, and I might be the only person alive who actually enjoyed Sorority Row…for its comedic value of course. While my friends can drink you under the table, I can outwatch you when it comes iconic, yet horrid 80s films like Adventures in Babysitting and Troop Beverly Hills. I have no shame when it comes to what I like, and if you have a problem with that, then we’ll settle it on the racquetball court. I see too many movies to actually win any film trivia contest, so don’t waste your first pick on me. My friends rent movies from my bookcase shelves, and one day I do plan to start charging. I long to live in LA, where my movie obsession will actually help me fit in, but for now I am content with my home in Austin. I prefer indies to blockbusters, Longhorns to Sooners and Halloween to Friday the 13th. I miss the classics, as well as John Ritter, and I hope to one day sit down and interview the amazing Kate Winslet.
