Endings

I rented an indie called "Player 5150" a tale about he perils of gambling. The film starts off rocky, low production value and lots of cliches about how loan sharks behave. Why do movie mobsters always have to be so cool and clever? Maybe I've just seen too many movies, but I would rather go subtle then over the top. Most criminals are blunt not witty.

As the story progressed I became interested and started rooting for the main character played by Ethan Embry. His performance took what could have been a flat and uninteresting film and really pumped it up a few notches. Kudos to Mr. Embry on what might one day be defined as his break out performance.

The movie kept building and raising the stakes, it had a great false "Rocky" moment where it looked like he was going to gamble his way out of the debt. At times I had to look away because I have has similar experiences on a much smaller scale. I've never gambled away my life saving, but I have walked into a casino with 200 dollars saying "I'm only going to play with 100" and driving away 4 hours later pissed.

My biggest complaint is in regards to the ending. This movie really has two endings. The real one that communicates the moral evils of gambling and the feel good nonsense that follows. The lives of compulsive gamblers end poorly, its pretty much a fact.

Still this film is certainly worth watching. B-