Runner Runner (2013)

disgusting, overrated, pointless

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I saw the trailer for this film at the time of its release, I mainly remembered it because of the actors, and because it was something to do with gambling, so I watched it, directed by Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer). Basically Princeton graduate student Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) is a former Wall Street broker, a couple of years ago he lost everything in the stock market. To support himself and pay the institution Richie promotes online gambling in Priceton, he is denounced by a student, Dean Alex Monroe (Bob Gunton) threatens to expel for these activities, after his ultimatum he stops. Using his excellent poker skills Richie decides to bet all his savings in a high stakes poker game to finance the rest of his graduation, however he loses all his money, and discovers he was swindled by Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), who runs the biggest empire of online gambling websites in the world. Richie travels to Costa Rica to confront Ivan at a gambling convention, there he meets his ex- lover and employee Rebecca Shafran (Gemma Arterton), she gives him an invitation to Ivan's party, there Richie meets with Ivan, who refunds his money and invites him to work for him. Richie is seduced by the offer and expects to become rich, he moves to Costa Rica, but then unethical FBI Agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie) presses him, he wants Richie's assistance to convict Ivan, as he has no jurisdiction in the corrupt country. Richie is stuck in the middle of remaining with Ivan and the organisation and not crossing with the wrong people, or following the law, but he does find out some truths about Ivan, and using his intelligence and money he will do whatever it takes to get out. Also starring Oliver Cooper as Andrew Cronin, Sam Palladio as Shecky, Jeannine Kaspar as Ashley, David Costabile as Professor Horstein and John Heard as Harry Furst. Timberlake does prove himself a good actor as well as a singer, Affleck is alright as the corrupt businessman, and Arterton is only in it to look beautiful, the editing may be pacy, especially the gambling sequences, but the story is predictable, and the majority of the film I felt bored, it is a fair but almost forgettable crime thriller. Adequate!

Right, well I must admit that I had already formed an opinion about this movie prior to having seen it. Why? How? Well, simply because of the lead cast being Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.And now having seen it, I have to admit that I am more than genuinely surprised at how entertaining the movie was, thanks to director Brad Furman, but also because of Affleck and Timberlake actually performing quite well. I will actually go as far as admitting that this was the best performance I have ever seen from Ben Affleck. That says a lot actually, because I usually stay well clear of his movies.The story in "Runner Runner" is about Richie (played by Timberlake) who loses 17.000 dollars on an online gambling site, and finds out that he was cheated. So he goes to Costa Rica to inform the owner of the site, gambling mogul Ivan Block (played by Affleck). Offering Richie a job with money and a luxurious lifestyle, Ivan soon have him working in his gambling dynasty, but all is not well beneath the golden surface.Story-wise "Runner Runner" is entertaining, although the story hardly seems plausible in any way. But hey, it is the movies after all. What makes this movie work was primarily the acting of Affleck and Timberlake.A predictable story, yes. But the movie is well-worth watching nonetheless. Just a shame that the movie didn't offer any twists and turns, nor does it really challenge the intellect of the audience.

If Justin Timberlake's name was shown at the beginning of this film, I didn't see it. I spent the whole movie impressed by how much this actor looked like him.Timberlake stars with Ben Affleck and John Heard in "Runner Runner" about Richie (Timberlake), a Princeton grad student who is gambling online and signing up other students to do it as well. He's taken to task by the chancellor (Bob Gunton). Richie decides to bet what money he has in an online poker game. He loses everything. When he studies the poker program a little bit more and does averages, etc., with a friend, he realizes he's been cheated.He then travels to Costa Rica to confront the tycoon responsible for these sites, one Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Richie believes Block would want to know about this since it is cheating customers.Block explains to him that some of his programmers turned out to be unethical, apologizes, comps his room, and credits his gambling account with the money he lost.Block winds up offering Richie a job rather than returning to school, and Richie, seeing the money he could make, stays on. As time goes on, he finds out that Block is a ruthless swindler who will do anything to get his way.The FBI approaches Richie for help gathering evidence about Block and initially, he rebuffs them. The web then becomes more tangled; when Richie tries to leave Costa Rica for home, he is stopped. Block then buys Richie's father's (John Heard) $187,000 gambling debt to keep Richie where he wants him. Block owns everything and everybody. How is he going to get out of this mess? This movie could have been a lot better than it was, but it falls flat. Richie is the main character, and he and his father are both idiots. I think they were supposed to be likable, so right away we're in trouble. It was very hard to connect with these characters making so many obvious mistakes.The acting was so-so. I can't agree about Ben Affleck being horrible. He comes off as a real nice guy, and that's just what sleazes do - otherwise, they couldn't rope anyone in. He's relaxed, he has a smile on his face, he offers you the world, when in truth, he's taking you for a big fool. Someone like Al Pacino or Andy Garcia, who look like tough guys, would have been wrong choices.This is really not worth seeing. Maybe as a rental, that's about it.

The three leads do carry the movie. And while there is not much that will surprise you (even more so, if you have seen the trailer), it still is entertaining enough to watch through. And that is without having a keen interest in the gambling/poker business. Well at least that's how I felt about it.Not the best showcase of Mr. Timberlake and surely not the role that bagged Affleck his Batman role recently. Although there might be traits here, he can use in that reboot. This movie is not a reboot, but still mixes many known elements. It does a decent job, while not exceeding the classics. Nice movie, good watch