The Gambler (2014)

Directed by Rupert Wyatt. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael K. Williams, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Anthony Kelly, Alvin Ing, Domenick Lombardozzi, Emory Cohen. [R]

Polished but hollow reworking of the same-named 1974 drama with Mark Wahlberg taking over for James Caan as an English professor hooked on the hazards of high-stakes gambling. If the original was lean and brutal, this one sags under the weight of so much box-checking and story/character-holes patched over with clichés. It might have gotten away with depicting a propulsive cycle of abuse if it was all about the self-destructive impulse and terrifying rush, but when we’re given so many details of Wahlberg’s canned family issues and self-loathing intellectual burnout, you can’t refuse to explain (or at least cleanly suggest) a root cause for his reckless behavior, which stands in contrast to the effectively elusive yet laser-focused original. Also withheld from the viewer: a good reason for student Brie Larson to aggressively pursue an inappropriate relationship with her suicidal prof (there’s no heat between them to get away with suggesting animal attraction). Wahlberg can do cocky and recalcitrant just fine, but he lacks any semblance of credibility in the classroom (William Monahan’s overwritten monologues certainly don’t help), and the film would’ve benefited from more of Jessica Lange’s venomous ice queen (the “gambler”’s mother, natch), but she disappears too early in the story. Andre Braugher has a minor role, and George Kennedy contributes a key cameo at the beginning, his final film appearance.

49/100