I came across this on Amazon for free and really enjoyed it. Watching Gina's "seduction" by gambling was hard to watch at times, especially how she kept dipping into her trust fund to chase after her next win. As stupid as she was, I still sympathized with the character and felt badly for her. It was clear to me that she was using gambling as fulfillment for the empty marriage she had to her med school husband who never had any time for her. She complains to her friend how she feels trapped in the marriage to a husband she never sees and how she "can't date". She obviously jumped into that marriage way too soon at 20 (or earlier as it's not determined the age she was when marrying, but she turns 21 in the film). It was a good film, but lacked a proper ending imo. I won't spoil anything, but I felt there should've been more to show before ending the way it did. Still, a solid 8 stars and Bertinelli is always nice to watch and the San Francisco early 80's street scenes were nice to see.

There aren't many TV movies about addiction issues besides drugs these days. Guess the casinos won't like this type of movie warning people about gambing addiction. Valerie Bertinelli does a great job as a bored San Francisco wife of a young doctor who starts taking trips to Tahoe to gamble and things get out of control. It's eye opening and fascinating. Not dated at all.

It was love and marriage that prompted premiere rock god Eddie Van Halen to score this 1984 TV-movie THE SEDUCTION OF GINA starring wife Valerie Bertinelli... Only don't expect cool beachy grooves like that same years' THE WILD LIFE that he thoroughly composed...

Herein among three prerecorded instrumental tracks, his Jump-like synth-driven opener introduces Valerie's titular GINA as a flaky college student married to a serious med student, and after a beginner's luck bout of barroom horse race gambling she winds up a total addict...

Which is not only constrained by television standards, but someone as insanely cute as Valerie hitting rock bottom isn't very rocky, or bottomy...

The casino mogul (Michael Brandon) she owes and ultimately "has to" sleep with is both better looking and more aptly suited than her downer husband; and then a streetwise bookie hardly puts pressure since she gets trust fund money so easily...

But that doesn't mean this SEDUCTION doesn't have value. There's a good amount of suspense while she's actually gambling (mostly Black Jack) within the plush Tahoe casino, and one following-morning as she rushes to her apartment seconds before her husband arrives is a genuine nail-biter.

Meanwhile her best pal Dinah Manoff has potential as a quirky boy-crazy sidekick... if this were a series instead... But GINA is a simple tale about what happens when a gorgeous young lady has too much free-time that winds up costing...

If only she stuck with that polite millionaire and dropped the whiny loser... But then she'd have no problem at all, and this is -- while doing for gambling what PRETTY WOMAN does for prostitution -- an addiction melodrama that's a decent bet for passing the time.