Review of Arbitrage (2012) by Phil P — 02 Mar 2013

"Mrs. Miller you're going to have to do...fucking better than that.".

Hearing the high praise the likes of 'Roger Ebert' gave the film I was most certainly looking forward to it. Could it be a rare beast a financial film that's fantastic? It pretty much succeeds but there are some problems.

First things first 'Richard Gere' is sensational and whilst he would never have beaten 'Daniel Day Lewis' him not even getting nominated is a millions types of wrong. The story follows 'Robert Miller' during the selling of his business, Whilst juggling financial problems he tries to plug, a mistress he's seeing and funding. He seemingly has a handle on it first but things spin out of control after he can't keep the many secrets, secret forever. The story is intriguing because there are so many things 'Robert' is trying to keep hidden and his annoyance at the buying of his business keeps getting stalled. Unlike most films the more confusing things get the better it gets - which is an odd thing to say but helps to see things the way 'Robert' sees them. The only real bad thing for me was the abrupt ending it wasn't how it went about it but that it just stopped - yes the idea is to put you're spin on it. But it just stops and I didn't get any time to reflect or try to figure anything out.

Like I said 'Gere' is electric and Oscar worthy it plays him with a suave even under pressure and only opens up when he's 100% sure a secret is out. There are no doubt more secrets that aren't even revealed in the film, 'Robert' is just that type of character you can tell. It's a great character study as time goes on you can see the cracks showing he never fully caves in but through his irritation and responses it's evident. Yes there are others 'Sarandon' is great and everyone else is good but 'Gere' elevates the film from being just good to great.

'Arbitrage' is a great mystery finance drama with many twists turns. 'Gere' shows his credentials and delivers a masterclass as the secretive and suave 'Robert Miller'. It's never boring and is often tense it could have been a contender had the film been given a not so abrupt ending. Despite all my praise it certainly won't appeal to everyone so keep that in mind - but from opinion I most certainly recommend it.