Going for Broke (2003 TV Movie) User Reviews (10)

an excellent study of a compulsive gambler

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 17 August 2005]

Delta Burke plays a compulsive gambler, and Gerald McRaney her husband, as in real life, in "Going for Broke." The film shows the step by step deterioration of a woman's life when she starts betting at the local casino. She borrows from the foundation for which she works, borrows from family, and eventually gambles the grocery money. Even when she wins, she loses, because she can't stop.

The story holds one's interest and one can't help but feel sorry and frustrated for the character as she digs herself in deeper and deeper, neglecting her children, husband, and job. The story is extra sad because, of course, this happens to people every day due to one addiction or another.

Burke, McRaney, and the rest of the cast do an impressive job.

Professionally Done

[rodney_bickersteth · 22 April 2008]

I watched this movie with my mother and loved it. I recently taped it because of the outstanding job that it did in addressing a serious issue. In this movie Laura Bancroft's life began to spiral dangerously out of control due to a severe addiction to gambling. When she started neglecting her husband and her kids to gamble she was just an addict. When she resorted to stealing to bankroll her habit she became a full blown junkie. It seemed that as the movie progressed her problem only got worse. In the end gambling not only destroyed her life but the lives of everyone around her. It just goes to show just how destructive any kind of addiction can be.

typical I guess

[[e-mail] · 3/10 · 23 April 2007]

These lifetime movies can suck me in if I'm in the right frame of mind. Honestly, I only saw the last half of this movie, but I didn't need to see the beginning by any means.

Once she's into her 'habit' she gets glassy eyed and her hair goes awry. The kids are neglected, all she can afford for them is oatmeal. "Really, Mom. Its OK, we LIKE oatmeal". This one's pretty putrid. The best scene is when she turns to a fellow gambler in a crummy cocktail lounge for help. "Oh Honey, we're not that kind of friends. I saw this coming, but who am I to say anything?"

Delta Burke should really steer clear of pathos. She just chews the scenery here. I much prefer Delta's brassy comic turn in recent ep's of Boston Legal!.

DELTA BURKE GAMBLED HER MARRIAGE & LIFE AWAY!

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 20 July 2003]

Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney are married in real life, however, in this picture, you sure feel sorry for poor Gerald McRaney. Delta Burke has a very hard time trying to get away from the ONE-ARMED BANDITS of Las Vegas. The film is very upsetting and I suppose that is what the actors are trying to portray and they both sure did a great job in their acting skills. Delta goes completely OUT OF CONTROL, neglects her son and daughter, husband. Delta wins $50,000 and turns around and gives it right back to the Casino's, she even takes $10,000 from her mother and it seems to just vanish in thin air. Just watching someone lose their entire life and family to gambling is very disturbing, however, it has a great message to all people who someday have to face the fact that they have a problem with gambling and need immediate HELP before they destroy themselves and everyone around them who love them dearly. Thanks to Delta & Gerald for a wonderful moral picture.

Everyone with any type of addictive personality NEEDS to see this film.

[generalgreer · 10/10 · 18 September 2007]

If I had watched this movie five years ago, I would have thought it was extraordinarily well written, directed, and acted, but I would have thought the plot was unbelievable. After all, how on earth could an upper-middle-class mom and career woman could ever fall into the grips of casino gambling addiction and throw her entire life away? Now, with a mother-in-law who has destroyed her family and is in financial ruin because of gambling, I realize that this movie is far more realistic than I could ever have guessed. Actually it gave me some insight into my mother-in-law's point of view (even though I still can't fully understand it). Outstanding, outstanding movie.

A Must See For All

[MimiAnn · 10/10 · 17 August 2003]

Splendid acting by all of the characters. Outstanding illustration of the consequences of compulsive gambling. Gambling must be viewed as entertainment, not as a means to earn money and to "win back what you have lost." It is easy to see how you can get seduced into the artificial atmosphere of the casino, and even more so how you can lose track of time at the slot machines, therefore neglecting your obligations, like how Laura put her children's lives in danger several times. This movie serves as a warning to how anyone can wake up one morning and discover that everything is lost due to gambling addiction. If just one person's life is turned around as a result of this excellent movie, if just one person decides to receive help, it is worth it.

ONE OF THE BEST TV FILMS EVER MADE POWERFUL AND UNFORGETTABLE!

[dtucker86 · 12 August 2003]

Lifetime television certainly continues its noble profession of making top-knotch tv films with Going For Broke. Before I watched it, I thought that it was going to be a typical "disease of the week" tv film, but no! This is filmaking at its very best. Its powerful, chilling and unforgettable. Real-life husband and wife Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke have the same chemistry as Tracy and Hepburn I believe. I just could not believe how foolish Delta's character was as she became addicted to gambling and just threw EVERYTHING!! away. Her loving husband, her wonderful, caring kids and her entire life for gambling. How could one person be so foolish. Her mother confronts her at the end and says "You threw it all away! I thought I raised you better! I do not know weather to hug you or slap you!" Watching her character is like watching a car going towards a brick wall at 100mph! I know this may sound very strange, but the fact this film does not have a happy end where everyone hugs and kisses and poops their pants, makes it better, it makes it more real to life and hard hitting.

Top-of-the-line TV movie

[ace21214 · 10/10 · 19 July 2003]

What a movie! This intelligently written, beautifully acted made-for-TV movie packs a powerful punch. I was riveted from beginning to end and almost every emotion a viewer could have was tapped. Delta Burke was so outstanding that without saying a word, her body language and facial expressions conveyed what her character was thinking and feeling perfectly. She deserves an Emmy. I urge everyone to watch this movie on Lifetime when it's replayed. I promise, you won't be sorry.

The Fever

[sol1218 · 8/10 · 17 April 2008]

(There are Spoilers) Hard hitting made for TV movie about how an addiction can not only destroy the person addicted but everyone and everything that he or she touches.

Having just moved from Florida to Reno Nevada Laura Bancroft, Delta Burke, had everything going for her in being the top fund-raiser at her new job managing the Juvenile Chronic Illness Foundation. It was when Laura innocently stepped into a local Reno casino to see how things are going on there that she stepped into hell. A hell that in the end would lead Laura to not only loses her savings home job and even family but her freedom. In her desperate attempt to have action on the casino's slot machines Laura even embezzled the foundation that she headed that was to help infirmed and disabled children!

We get to see Laura slowly descend into "Gambling Hell" as, like most people who get addicted to gambling, she suffers an acute case of "Biginners Luck". Running up a winning streak at the casino Laura feels that she somehow found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that she was looking for all her life. As her luck started to turn Laura instead of walking away from the one armed bandits, slot machines, went full-tilt and her bank account quickly reached zero.

Trying to keep her addiction, as well as the dwindling family bank account, from her hard working husband Jim, Gerald McRaney, and daughter and son Jennifer, Ellen Page, and Tommy,Matthew Haubour, Laura started to suffer from panic attacks in their finding out the truth about her secret life. With Laura not being about to do both her job as a fund-raiser and mother both her professional and home-keeper careers went to pot along with her.

Always blaming everyone else for her addiction even the sweet and elderly women Bella-Joyce Gordon-who introduced Laura to the slots, not realizing what a additive person she is, Laura ran out of people to blame for her own problems when they, those whom she tried to blamed, ran out on her.

Poor Jim breaking his back working two shifts at the local taxi garage as a grease monkey was lied to and even humiliated, in what a loser he is, by an out of control Laura who treated the hard working man worst then a piece of garbage. A deranged and feeling high on the hog Laura after hitting a $50,000.00 jackpot at the casino, which she lost the very next day, not only had Jim thrown out of his own house but had both Jennifer and Tommy, knowing that their mom is quickly losing it, leave as well.

With everything closing in on her and facing jail and disgrace Laura looking for a way out of the mess that she and only she put herself into choose to do herself in via carbon monoxide poisoning. It was at that time in her garage, with Laura's car fumes about to suffocate her, that Laura finally saw the light and realized that running away from her demons, gambling, will only make things worst for those she'll leave behind. It was there and then that Laura decided to both face the music, in embezzling the foundation she ran, and also do something to cure her from her gambling addiction! Laura decided to come clean with what she did at her job and also go to GA, Gamblers Anonymous, and get her and her family's, because of her addiction, totally destroyed lives back together again.

P.S Because of what gambling did to Laura Bancroft, as well as thousands of other helpless and addicted gamblers, legislation was passed to post telephone numbers of addicted gamblers self-help groups,like Gambling Anonymous,at gambling establishments like casinos or off track betting houses for anyone who seeks help. Something that wasn't around when Laura Bancroft lost control and went under when she went on the road to financial and personal destruction depicted in the movie "Going for Broke".

Very touching and kind of heartbreaking drama about the effects a gambling problem can have on a family

[Catherine_Grace_Zeh · 10/10 · 26 November 2006]

GOING FOR BROKE, in my opinion, is a very touching and kind of heartbreaking drama about the effects a gambling problem can have on a family. I was shocked that Laura (Delta Burke) would even steal money from a certain place. If you want to know where, you'll have to see the movie. If you ask me, Jennifer (Ellen Page) should have been a little more respectful to Laura and Jim (Gerald McRaney). Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say, "If you ask me, GOING FOR BROKE really does show you how a gambling problem can truly affect a family." Now, in conclusion, I recommend this very touching and kind of heartbreaking drama about the effects a gambling problem can have on a family to all you Delta Burke or Gerald McRaney fans who have not seen it. You're in for some tears and a good time, so see it when you get the chance.