Hello! Here is my review of Runner Runner.
Directed by Brad Furman the film focuses on gambling
student Richie Furst, Justin Timberlake, who loses all his tuition money to a
scam in a gambling website run by Ivan Block (tee hee) played by Not Christian
Bale, I mean Ben Affleck. Richie promptly travels to Block’s base of operations
in Costa Rica to confront him and get his money back but instead he gets sucked
into Block’s world.
First things first, this film isn’t offensively bad. Well,
it is offensive. The majority of the women in it are purely there as sex
objects from Gemma Arterton as Block’s secretary, business partner/ girlfriend
and J.T’s love interest, who doesn’t really do anything except look pretty. No
wait she helps a bit…by looking pretty, though to be honest who can blame her
for getting all swoony between Ben Affleck and J.T. Also there are plenty of ‘supporting’
roles that could have been played by women and nothing would have had to change
it just wouldn’t have been so sexist and maybe a little more interesting.
So, whilst offensively bad in terms of ignorant sexism,
it isn’t an offensively bad movie. You aren’t going to socially disown whoever
suggested it, instead you’ll probably just say ‘meh’ and turn it off. It never
falls into the depths of truly bad, but it’s never really that good either. It’s
occasionally pretty and the music is good but ultimately when your friends
asked you what you watched at the weekend, you’ll reply with ‘something with
Ben Affleck and crocodiles and I think there was something about gambling. ‘
So yes the gambling, pretty big part of the movie right. Right?
Not really. The opening credits play over a series of news reports seemingly
chastising online gambling; specifically the ease to play and to lose mass
amounts of money, and addiction among college students. We then cut to J.T
talking to someone about selling gambling and not being able to pay his
tuition, next we see him try to win his tuition and failing. After that it
falls into the background and reappears as numbers. Lots of numbers.
So, does this mean the movie is an insightful look at
online gambling? Does it throw a noble hero into a morally ambiguous world and
whilst exploring, offer no concrete answers, providing a modern great in the
vein of Casino or The Hustler?
No.
The plot can be summed up thusly: J.T goes to Block with ‘noble’
intentions, gets sucked in to the excess, things go well and then everything
goes wrong. Yeah? What else did you think would happen?
A solid, if not great performance from J.T, I found Richie
to be an annoying and entitled so and so. At one stage he is traumatised by not
being able to work in Wall Street and not be really rich. In fact that seems to
be his motive throughout the movie. He wants to do an MA so he can get another
job on Wall Street and make money. Yet he doesn’t really feel that he should
have to pay for his education (he made too much money before he lost it the
first time in wall street) hence the gambling for tuition fees. It’s very hard
to sympathise with him when all the bad stuff could have been avoided if he had
just GOTTEN A JOB. Cry me a river Justin (that’s funny because he did a song
called that.)
Right rants over; those are the points that annoyed me
the most and the rest of the review will be much more neutral.
The film looks great, the cast is collectively handsome
and some of the locales are pretty and occasionally interesting. The film is
set in Costa Rica (but filmed in Puerto Rico) but you can never really tell.
Most of the film takes place in the Americanised areas such as penthouses and
mariners (all pointed toward a deep excess that the film often mentions but
never really goes for) that could be anywhere in the world with sun and rich
people. The scenes that are supposed to be the more grass root areas look good
and carry some interesting features, but the reliance on the chic lifestyle
often make these locale switches quite jarring. Whilst the setting of Costa
Rica worked on a true to life political level, it didn’t really work in any
other way. Costa Rica is a beautiful place with an emphasis on eco-tourism so
has many stunning places of natural beauty that could have been used to help
raise the status of the film but these are never even hinted at. The characters
are all quite one dimensional and inconsistent so no eyebrows would be raised
if one of them suddenly decided to take a hike. So in the end the setting
becomes a convenience that could have been used much better.
Finally, I shall talk about the main pull of the movie,
Ben Affleck. As his first film post Batfleck (and following from the amazing
Argo and unseen but quietly beautiful To The Wonder) there was going to be a
lot hanging on this movie and it is testament to its forgetableness that it didn’t
ignite more hate/love/ambivalence/angry confusion towards the future Batman.
That said, he is by far the best thing in the film. All the characters are
dicks (literally and metaphorically) and the world is just as bad and Block
seems to be the only character aware of this and thusly has fun and takes full
advantage. So in a weird way you cheer for him more than the actual hero who
does many similar things to Block but just with some half arsed nobility behind
him.
Affleck’s performance, Much like his character, has ‘a
may as well’ vibe to it and whilst it is still the best thing in the film, it
begs the question; why is Ben Affleck in this? And why is Leonardo DiCaprio a
producer? What incrimination photos exist and how can I see them?
I’m getting side-tracked but you see my point. And it has
to be said, despite being the best part in the film, it’s a good job most
people didn’t see it/can’t remember it because it really is Affleck’s worst
film in a long time. Badfleck, if you will. A return to the sort of form that
makes all his current, well deserved, success and reputation a surprise.
To conclude, this is an alright film. You won’t hate it,
at most you’ll be annoyed by it but if you are it doesn’t matter because you
won’t remember it by Monday. The best way to think of it is as something to
remind us just how good Argo and The Town are.
Oh yeah, also there could be a good point in there about
modern western societies devil may care attitude to money, entertainment and self-advancement
but it never amounts to anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DksSPZTZES0 (see told you it was real)
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