Top 5: Movies about Gambling
Most realists will say life itself is a gamble. If we think about it, there’s some truth in it – we never know what’s going to happen next, and whatever happens, is based on probability and chance. While that’s the case, the movie industry has been creative enough to portray the level of uncertainties and rush we feel as we don’t know what happens next.
The modern-day gambling industry has seen platforms like playersbest.com assist new and experienced gamblers with resources to have a fun-filled and profitable gaming experience. However, this doesn’t negate the risks and rush of watching your wager materialise to profits or losses. Again, we have to give some credit to Hollywood for being able to present instances of that on our screens. Ordinarily, it’ll be just you understanding how you feel without being able to see your facial expressions or witness in a third-person point of view.
Although real-life gambling lifestyles are a practice kept in the shadows of the public, many movies that depict a gambler’s lifestyle have received fantastic reviews from the media. From Vegas Vacation, Maverick, and The Cooler, to the recent Uncut Gems and The Card Counter, we’ll be looking at some fantastic movies that had their plots based on gambling experiences.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Steven Soderbergh’s jazzy remake of Rat Pack is a movie that brings a new idea to what gambling movies should be. Ordinarily, you’d expect sobering cautionary tales, but Ocean’s Eleven brings its unique fleet-footed vibes to the table.
Meanwhile, it’s hard to expect any less when you’ve got George Clooney and Brad Pitt working on set together. More so, it’s hard-hit and misses on movies with Vegas themes and casinos. However, any stern critic who makes a subtraction from its overall rating score could be right because the plot was a little above what real gamblers had if – you consider gambling lifestyles.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Perhaps this is one of the few movies about gambling that shows the woes of a gambler. Showing the addiction, highway of doom and tragedy a gambler face isn’t always a writer’s favourite plot to make. One might think the movie was created to make people shy away from gambling, but addiction is addiction.
In this movie, Adam Sandler played Howard, a hopeless gambling addict who, despite being down on luck, he chooses to continue gambling as a means to an end. Based on ratings on reviews like rottentomatoes, the movie has to be one of the best performances in his career. Like most gambling movies, there’s the New York theme, jewellery, and a touch of violence – which you’d expect from any film with a New York location plot.
Vegas Vacation (1997)
Everyone in the room will agree that this movie isn’t remarkable, perhaps the worst vacation movie you’ve ever seen. However, the gambling scene featured within is good enough to make the list. The fact that it pretty much sums up how the casino house rigs the play against its customers in a hilarious joke is quite catchy.
Clark Griswold is a gambling addict who unfortunately wasn’t good at it, and unfortunately, he’s always a victim of a car dealer named Marty. One time he goes to a discount casino and spends $20 to play a game called ‘Pick a Number Between 1 and 10’. Right away, he chooses ‘4’, but the dealer says, “nope 7.” While Clark goes hope a loser again, the scene just goes to show the manner of rigging that exists in every casino.
The Cooler (2003)
Although this movie is primarily about gambling, it also checks other aspects like romance, suspense and drama. Here, Williams H. Macy plays Bernie, a typical loser who’s so bad that his presence at a table can ruin any high roller’s streak.
He eventually runs into debt from repeated losses and now has to pay the casino boss Alec Baldwin. he takes a job as Baldwin’s ‘cooler’ and, in the process, falls in love with Maria Bello, a cocktail waitress at his workplace.
The Card Counter (2021)
Paul Schrader is at it again with another stern and austere movie, only this time there’s a little deviation, including gambling scenes which we could say blended quite well. Meanwhile, the overall plot isn’t short of what we expect from most of Schrader’s movies, the storylines – guilt, grief, trauma, and faith.
He takes us into the life of Oscar Isaac, a professional card player moving from casino to casino to have control over his life and hopefully let go of his past. In the movie, Isaac plays a role that represents the dream of any gambler.
While gambling-themed movies can be filled with tragedy, there often isn’t as much physical violence as we see in horror movies. They’re versatile enough to integrate glimpses of other movie genres without losing their main plot or theme.
