Review of Arbitrage (2012) by Rudy M — 24 Jul 2013

Another writer/director movie, this time by the relatively inexperienced Nicholas Jarecki, whose resume contains a short film and a documentary. Replace "contains" in that last sentence with "consists of". This man has never directed a full length movie before. He merely did three directorial projects over the last 8 years.

Even though that doesn't bode well, it's not all that bad. The directing is not what's causing this movie to fail. It's the content, the story. So what's the movie about?

"A troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help." That is the tagline floating around the internet.

But that's not what you get to see. Yes, there's a fund magnate and yes, he's troubled and desperate to complete a sale. But to state that he then makes an error and turns to a person who is unlikely to help him, is nonsense.

As the movie progresses, you learn that Richard Gere-played Robert Miller has been a fraud and an adulterer for a while. He has mismanaged money from his company, has a wife, daughter and son and a young mistress (Laetitia Casta) on the side.

While Gere's performance fits the character, the character is bland. Most of the characters are too stereotypical to be true. Susan Sarandon as the loving-turned-bitter wife, Brit Marling as the silver- spoon-turned-victim daughter. Tim Roth as the determined-to-hang-the-rich detective.

The acting is decent, but the story and characters lack depth and quality. The only character that comes to life in a believable way is Nate Parker's Jimmy Grant as the black-kid-who-has-to-clean-up-rich-white-man's-trash.

Characters aside, the main problem with the story is that it eventually glorifies greed, manipulation, manslaughter and obstruction of justice. Even though lives have been destroyed and people got killed, the rich and manipulative walk away. An open end to such a movie causes me to word my final verdict: AVOID!!

Pros: well-produced, good actors.

Cons: bad characters, storyline and execution.

Verdict: Avoid!!