Runner Runner: Movie Review

Runner Runner: Movie Review

Cast: Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton, Ben Affleck, Anthony Mackie, John Heard
Director: Brad Furman

Justin Timberlake dances back onto the big screen with this latest, a cat and mouse thriller set in the world of online gaming.

JT is Richie, a Princeton grad student, has been earning commission referring students to sites but when he's threatened with eviction off campus by the Dean, he goes for broke in an online poker game, risking all his fortune.

But when he loses it all, he realises the system's cheated him - so he heads to Costa Rica to confront online gambling tycoon Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). However, Block's impressed by Richie and seduces him into his world by offering him wealth.

Things take a turn for the nasty when the FBI shows up, warning Richie that he's over his head and revealing just how much danger he is in....

Runner Runner is annoyingly flat for a so-called cat and mouse thriller that's supposed to seduce you into another world and offer you everything.

With its "House Always Wins" mantra, this bland excuse for a movie proffers up scant tension and hardly any hints of danger as each side is manipulated by all those playing the game. Timberlake delivers his lines well, but there's little conviction behind them; Gemma Arterton is simply there to be wasted as bronzed eye candy and Affleck appears to phone it in as a charmer turned wannabe gangster type.

There's no indication of life in the script, no zing in the dialogue and no real reason why Ritchie is seduced into this world - he attends one party and suddenly believes the online gambling world is the place for him to thrive; there's no conviction in any of the performances and there's certainly no passion or chemistry between Arterton and Timberlake as their so-called affair "heats up". Not once did Affleck convince me there was a simmering bad guy lurking beneath the charming veneer, threatening to boil over into some kind of explosion - there's no menace within.

A thriller that fails to bring anything truly thrilling to the genre, Runner Runner is a massive waste of the talent involved - it's supposed to be a cautionary tale of greed, a take on the American Dream and a story of one youngster being seduced by a charming bad guy. But all that emerges is a film that's tedious and dull - despite its 90 minute run time.

Do yourself a favour - and don't gamble on Runner Runner.

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