Wilbo Says: "Mark Wahlberg in 'The Gambler' Plays Blackjack Like an Asshole".

Mark Wahlburg has been one of my favorite actors since The Shooter. He
doesn't disappoint in The Gambler. His lines as Jim Bennett get a
little too Pinteresque to my mind, although it is amusingly absurd.
One really has to work to understand his rapid fire speech when he
lectures his literature students at a major university, home of the
Wildcats basketball team. His character gambles like an asshole,
doubling up at every win until the inevitable loss comes. It is
astounding that three dangerous money men actually pony up close to a
half-million to back a Blackjack strategy based upon the Martingale,
the doubling up pattern. In the end, the character of Jim Bennett
seeks his redemption by putting it all on black in roulette. Not going
to tell you the judgment of the wheel. John Goodman as Frank, a
moneyman who can vacuum out your accounts from Russia, aims at an
ironic quality of evil and achieves it, raising memories of the Big
Lebowski repeatedly. It's a good film that looks like a laggard at the
box office, and so far it hasn't earned back its production budget.
— watching The Gambler at Cinema Carousel.