Casinos have been known to leave gamblers in a happy mood. But, you do not need to visit a casino to experience this level of happiness- there are casino movies that are sure to boost your happiness levels, otherwise known as dopamine. But, first of all, what is dopamine?
What is dopamine?
Dopamine is one of the many hormones that are secreted in your body under certain circumstances. The dopamine is known as the happiness hormone- directly linked to events that bring some pleasure. However, dopamine is responsible for joy and happiness, but it also motivates you to learn new things.
For a better context, you know the feeling you get when you watch a romantic movie that eventually finishes with a “Happily ever after” ending. A small satisfied smile starts to form on the corner of your mouth, and you immediately recognize a feeling of pleasure in your body- that is an exemplary scenario of dopamine secretion.
However, romantic films are not the only types of movies responsible for the secretion of dopamine; some casino movies can also generate a happy feeling in you. So now, let’s find out some of these casino movies that can boost dopamine levels in your body and leave you satisfied and motivated.
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (dir. Terry Gilliam, 1998)
The cinematography industry has done well to change many people’s mindsets regarding gambling and the kind of people that visit casinos’. Thanks to Hollywood, many people now know that gambling is not only for the rich- and online casino sites have made it easier for anybody to sign up and start spinning those reels from the comfort of their homes.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a real-life story about a journalist called Hunter Thompson (Johnny Depp) and his lawyer’s insane road trip from Los Angeles to LAs vegas. Hunter loves doing drugs, so when an opportunity surfaces to cover a sport even in the city that never sleeps, Hunter wasn’t going to pass on it.
Hunter later spends a considerable amount of money on drugs and is left with no other choice but to gamble in Sin City, searching for the “American Dream”. As expected, they step on the toes of drug dealers, encounter dangerous gamblers, hitchhikers, and of course, police officers.
This movie does not depict Las vegas to be a beautiful city with lovely skyscrapers and attractive lights- it portrays the inner secrets of Las vegas streets; the drugs, gangsterism, organized crime, and the opportunistic attitudes of everyone in that city. So if you feel you are not up for the dangers of physical gambling, I strongly suggest you stick to Real money slots games at the casino online.
The Hangover (dir. Todd Phillips,2009)
The Hangover is one of my favorite movies. This comedy illustrates the saying that “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
It is a story of three friends, Stu, Alan, and Phil, who travel to Las Vegas for their friend Doug’s bachelor party.
However, they wake up the next day with several mishaps and a memory gap. There is a tiger in the room, the groom is missing, and one of the guys has a wedding ring on but misses a tooth. As you might expect, it’s total confusion from here as these three friends struggle to find the groom and figure out what happened in the night leading up to all their problems.
It is a movie that will surely leave you with high dopamine levels and keep you glued to that TV with a pained stomach from laughing too hard.
Ocean’s Eleven (dir. Steven Soderbergh,2001)
This was one of the most epic movies in 2001. The film depicts the story of a skilled thief who assembled a team of con-artists and a gymnast to rob three of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas- the Mirage, the Bellagio, and MGM Grand, all owned by Danny Ocean’s rival; Terry Benedict.
This is a thrilling movie that will leave you guessing what next is going to happen. The suspense and romantic subplot will leave you happy about the reunion of love interests and doubtful about the heist itself. In the end, will Danny Ocean be able to pull off this 150 million dollars heist?
The Gambler (dir. Rupert Wyatt, 2014)
This particular movie doesn’t primarily depict the excellent side of gambling- it shows all the things that could go wrong when you get addicted or too greedy.
This lesson is illustrated in this story of an addicted gambler and English literature teacher played by Mark Wahlberg. He loves high stakes and ends up losing a blackjack game against some dangerous criminals. As you might expect, they aren’t too happy that he cannot pay.
So from that point forward, Mark Wahlberg goes into a desperate search for a way to pay back the money he owes. This movie ending might be predictable, but it depicts all the bad things resulting from addiction.
A dopamine boosting movie is what made me ‘up my game’ as a writer. It leaves you with a high sense of self-worth, great inspiration, or happiness. Casino movies will leave you guessing what will happen next with no way to be sure if the plan will work out or not- just like with the real deal.
