This movie had me, then lost me (spoilers!)

Agree, I'm european and the ending will be different and more real, in gambling the only winner is the casino.
Great film until the last scene.

Plenty of films have shown that. Documentaries too.

Gerry does win in the sort term, but from everything the film has showed us, do you really think it's ultimately going to end up well? Sure, maybe he gets his act together and invests the money in some safe mutual funds or something, but somehow, I really doubt that.

Also, the very end of the movie is him getting his old car back and listening to the same old poker CD, which if you take to mean anything beyond a literal story level, probably points to the fact that he's just going to go right back to gambling. And sure, a quarter million dollars is a lot, but to a guy like Gerry, that could go very quickly.



_____________________________________________________________

Live and learn. At least we lived.

I don't think the end was lukewarm. I interpreted it as eventually Gerry will gamble all his winnings away. He might try to do the right thing, but he has a sickness and it will eat him up eventually. Which makes it even worse than not winning anything at all. Having $500K and then having nothing is a lot worse than just having nothing.

I knew people would (understandably) have problems with the ending. A degenerate gambler doesn't change after winning it big: he only begins to change after losing it all (and maybe not even then). I get it.

But he could have this moment. If Gerry believes he can only win with Curtis' blessing, and they're going their separate ways (Gerry's choice), then he really could recognize the importance of his daughter and trying to make amends. In the long-run he'll likely blow through all of the winnings, but *maybe* not.

While the end of the movie didn't feel completely true to what had come before ? it also wasn't an entirely pat ending, either. In that the very last beat wasn't: "hey let's go out and do it again). That would've been truly awful.

However, I do think the story was trying to indicate that Gerry was in a significant way a changed man. Yes, he does go back to listening to his ever present poker-tip CD in the very last scene. The tip which is being explained as he sits there references several earlier scenes in the movie. Specifically, it refers to a moment where Curtis points out to Gerry what Gerry's "tell" is. Namely, dropping his shoulders when he's weak ? or slouchy (both on and off the table). The tip he listens to at the end in the car, describes a player sitting up straight as showing his strength. In that moment, Jerry is sitting up straight.

While I doubt his newfound strength will be enough to magically overcome his hardcore gambling addiction, I believe that we as viewers are meant to be left hopeful.

I'm glad they won.

A gambler could convince you they only gamble because they need to win big one time (for child support, to pay off a bookie, to buy this that and the other). But once they make that score, it's over. Fresh start.

When Curtis asks Gerry to dream away his winnings, Gerry hesitates and can't come up with anything quickly. Because all his mind can conjure is himself seated at a table gambling with that money. His dreams aren't about white Cadillacs and Macchu Picchu or even concrete dreams for his daughter. They're all about chasing the win.

This wasn't a happy ending. A Hollywood ending would have been Curtis takes that $5,000 dollars, returns home, and pays off Gerry's debt for him. Gerry, broke but having learned his lesson, goes on to repair his relationship with his young daughter. The End.

Instead, we are given the veneer of the happy ending: half a million dollars! But Curtis is still, in his mother's words, half a man. And Gerry is back on the road scratching that itch. It's a tragic ending.