Review of Runner Runner (2013) by Monique Y — 05 Jan 2014

Despite of all the comments here saying that Timberlake and Affleck were miscast, perhaps expecting that the underground world is still made of Al Capone's mob style, I was able to enjoy the white collar attitude of them both in the movie. Because such is the current reality. Sure, they showed real latin gangs doing the dirty jobs, they showed that the authorities can be as dirty and play hardball as the bad guys, but it's undeniable to me that corporate corruption enjoys pretty much the same jet set style and starlet reputation of Hollywood.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the extremely uninformed selection of Costa Rica as their country of operation. Manu G. here has explained that this movie was shot in Puerto Rico and that makes much more sense because the scenery and behaviors portrayed in the movie do correspond to their culture. Costa Rica has a different flavor, different look, different accent and even a very different way of handling their own corruption. Costa Rica has no army so the green uniforms were a bit too much!