maandag 22 augustus 2016

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 114: Runner Runner

Director: Brad Furman
Genre: Thriller/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 88 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton, Ben Affleck, Anthony Mackie, John Heard, Bob Gunton

Description: When a poor college student (Justin Timberlake) who cracks an online poker game goes bust, he arranges a face-to-face with the man (Ben Affleck) he thinks cheated him, a sly offshore entrepreneur.

Review: In 2011 director Brad Furman scored unexpectedly with “The Lincoln Lawyer”, a strong thriller that boosted Matthew McConaughey’s career. The follow up movie “Runner Runner” is ambitious, but misses inspiration and feels mediocre.
Richie Furst is an ambitious young student and is introduced to quick money, beautiful women and luxury. But off course he is not made for a world like that and it gets him into trouble. Richie is played by Justin Timberlake and the boss he has to face is Ben Affleck. To pay for his college Richie gets his money by gambling online. But one day, he gambles it all away and he feels like he was cheated. Richie decides to find the man behind the website, Ivan Block, who lives in Costa Rica.
The way the story goes is very farfetched and feels illogical. The movie does have a good pace at the beginning. But the movie collapses pretty quickly. The movie is filled with clichés. And the acting isn’t all that great either. Justin Timberlake is not a good actor, especially not for a leading role like this.Ben Affleck I was never a fan of and in “Runner Runner” he didn’t win me over. Gemma Arterton has the thankless job to play the woman between the two men, when she has so much more to offer as an actress. And Anthony Mackie is also underused.
With all that, “Runner Runner” is extremely predictable. You just know what’s going to happen and you don’t really care either. “Runner Runner” is a mediocre thriller, that I will forget in an instant. Forgotten!

Rating: 2/ 5

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