Review of Arbitrage (2012) by Brianna M — 01 Jan 2014

This movie about high finance and white collar crime sets up a plot but then plods from start to finish, with high suspense points being the issuance of a suspicious audit report or, gasp, Robert Miller (Richard Gere) drafting a million dollar contract on the back of a menu.

Miller is a corrupt exec trying to hide both his losses and a far more serious crime all in time to sell his company, cap his career and close the ultimate deal. Ellen Miller (Susan Sarandon), his wife, a forbearing cuckold, barley utters a few lines but somehow proves to be a combatant.

The ham handed moral dialogue (difficult choices, jobs at stake, playing by the rules) seem both endless and trite; "the world is cold," says Gere's character, "then wear a coat," quips Sarandon.

"You lied to me!," cries Brook Marly as Gere's idealistic daughter, perpetually clad in all white. "You're so naive," Gere stoically replies. The dignity portrayed by Nate Parker as Jimmy Grant, a young African American who Gere uses as a pawn, is tarnished by the ad nauseaum theme of benevolent philanthropist meets young man from the ghetto.

The movie's one redeeming feature is Tim Roth as a detective and Gere's erstwhile nemesis whose earnest effort here makes up for the fact that he seems to be doing his lines in the voice of Christopher Walken.