The Bet (1992) User Reviews

Modest short about a man with a gambling addiction

[Havan_IronOak · 7/10 · 28 May 2003]

This is moderately interesting short about a young man who's gambled himself into debt and is now scrambling to get out of the situation.

The story has the suspense the situation entails but doesn't seem to go any further. It seems a mere recounting of events with no lessons learned, no real surprises and not enough information about the characters to like them or really care about what happens to them.

As with many shorts, a lot of detail is left out but in this story so much back story has been left out that the film is robbed of any real power or interest.

Jekkyl and Hyde

[Buccaneer · 8/10 · 16 March 2007]

The brothers' names are Henry and Harry. Harry has been a familiar form of the name Henry, used by close friends and relatives, at least since Shakespeare's era.

I didn't take notice of that when I saw the film. In retrospect, it suggests to me that the dramatic conflict plays out on an individual level of inner conflict - one brother being the personification of addiction's selfish appetite, while the other personifies rational, considerate reasoning mind that weighs consequences the addictive mind denies or dismisses.

Unfortunately, being a short, the film isn't available. I saw it on DirectTV in a program of shorts, which regrettably, doesn't include individual titles in the program's description.