Review of Runner Runner (2013) by Dave M — 10 Dec 2015

Money. Exotic locales. Money. Sex. Money. What's not to like? Not only are those things part of the appeal of "Runner Runner" (R, 1:31), but they're also what tempt the lead character into a situation that eventually threatens to deprive him of everything he's working for.

Justin Timberlake plays Richie Furst, a brilliant student in a master's mathematics program at Princeton. When his attempts to fund his education through online poker backfire, he gets desperate. Now, Richie isn't just your average gambler. He knows poker, and gambling runs in his family, as we understand when we meet Richie's father (John Heard). Richie uses his knowledge of gambling, mathematics and computers to gather proof that he was cheated. He flies to Costa Rica to confront the man behind the poker website in question - Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), an American entrepreneur who may or may not be a legitimate businessman.

Their encounter leads Ivan to hire Richie to help him run his website. Richie's good at it and it's a shortcut to everything he hoped his Ivy League education would bring him. Meanwhile, a relationship develops between Richie and Ivan's former lover, Rebecca (Gemma Arterton). Things are going swimmingly for Richie until Anthony Mackie's FBI Agent Shavers steps in and tries to threaten Richie into turning against his employer. Will he or won't he? Which of these characters are the criminals and which are just doing their jobs? The answers eventually reveal each character's true allegiances, just as Richie seems hopelessly boxed in on all sides.

This is an above-average thriller that keeps you guessing. Justin Timberlake has legitimate acting chops and it was fun to see Ben Affleck take on such a morally ambiguous character, and nice to see that he didn't overplay his hand. This movie is part "Ocean's 11" and part "The Firm", but still manages to feel original. The twists and turns are many, but allow the audience to keep up and enjoy getting the answers to those questions I mentioned earlier. "Runner Runner" isn't what I would call brilliant, but it's reasonably well-constructed and pretty entertaining. "B".