Review of Arbitrage (2012) by Raheem H — 23 Jan 2013

Richard Gere slithers and simmers as a financial titan with a dripping-red ledger. Director Nicholas Jarecki imparts upon his original script the brushstrokes of classic tragedy, but can't quite put his modern-day morality tale in the same league. For what else is Gere's "patriarch" but the graying king of an empire that's crumbling in his own hands?

As Gere's Robert Miller fends off various sieges to his vulnerable kingdom (an in-peril company sale, a vehicular manslaughter investigation), the actor excels at playing a shark who's running out of open water. He's matched by Susan Surandon as Miller's pragmatic wife and Nate Parker as the kid with a conscience who owes Miller a favor.

Despite a great negotiation scene and subversive ending that defines "fraud", "Arbitrage" falls short of being equal to a stock market killing and is merely a solid investment of your time.