Simply Perfect

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent but underrated film

As Good As It Gets

The story is just a decent attempt to approach the world of online gambling. Strangely, it only focused on the subject for the opening minutes, and then it threw away the gambling thing and shift the focus to The Costa Rican casinos. Then from there it goes to be very predictable and boring; the lead character falls for the boss's woman and gets betrayed because of it but he outsmarts the boss and gets away with it. The acting overall is just plain. Justin Tmberlake has really lost his charm for movies.His face doesn't really nail those serious expressions and ended up making him look like a baby-face. Ben Affleck's try at the antagonist also falls flat since he didn't get any mean looks out of him the entire movie. Gemma Arterton's presence is just a waste since she doesn't really falls in significantly here.

Predictable! Timberlake and Affleck had strong performances. The viewer can relate with the two protagonist. The first half of the story is interesting as Timberlake tries to get out of a pickle and gets into a bigger one. The viewer learns of the world Affleck has created and can foresee the dangers/temptations involved. Regrettable the viewer foresees the plot twists and the movie becomes anti- climatic. Runner Runner becomes another 1970's style con with in the con movie. Watch American Hustle, which is far better for the art of the con genre! Well, acted directed and executed, but needed another story rewrite! I give Runner Runner a six out of ten.

Runner Runner is a tired formula, but since it's a formula that I usually like, I gave the movie a watch.While it mostly held my interest, there was no getting around the fact that this movie is tired and played out. Once you get past the marquee cast and the stylized direction you realize that the script is fundamentally unoriginal and that you have already seen this story done better in films like Wall Street, Boiler Room, 21 and Rounders.The "aspiring and smart young hustler gets discovered by a charismatic mentor who he later becomes disillusioned with and betrays to save his a**" story line is so familiar at this point that it's probably ready for a Jim Abrahams type parody.Ben Affleck's "Ivan Block" is so reminiscent of his Jim Young character from Boiler Room that it is easy to imagine Block is actually just Jim Young 13 years later after getting out of prison and changing his name, becoming a bit more sophisticated with age and finding a new and even better way to get rich by scamming suckers.Despite Justin Timberlake's obvious charm and talent, he has yet to really register as a significant presence on the big screen and this is another forgettable role for him. It's not that his performance is bad, it isn't, but it feels entirely interchangeable with just about any other young actor- Timberlake puts no personal stamp on the part.Gemma Arterton also fades into the background of the picture which is telling. When I first saw Arteron in a fairly small role in Quantum of Solace, her screen presence was hard to take your eyes off of. It is a testament then to the blandness of her character's development in Runner Runner that she too feels like an interchangeable cliché.When I read that Brad Furman had directed Runner Runner, it made sense why I found the film stylistically appealing in terms of pacing, visuals, sets, photography and even performances. Furman also directed one of my recent favorites: The Lincoln Lawyer, an equally stylish but vastly superior film in terms of story line and character development.That Runner Runner feels a lot like the poker movie Rounders is explained by the fact that both movies had the same screenwriters. Unfortunately, the technique of having the sharp-witted protagonist narrate poker strategy as a metaphor for the movie action just feels redundant in this film.As a viewer who tends to look for some degree of verisimilitude regarding law enforcement in these kind of crime thrillers, Runner Runner continues the tradition of Hollywood never portraying an FBI agent in a manner that feels remotely believable. In real life, FBI agents are not likely to be edgy eccentrics or burn outs. They tend to be Type-A high-achievers ambitious to succeed in a large bureaucratic organization. Anthony Mackie's Agent Shavers joins other depictions of movie G-Men who feel in no way authentic. Again, it's not the actor's fault, it's just a poorly written and developed character.In short: the big name cast and stylistic direction can't overcome the tired story and weak script. If you like the formula that has been done better in Wall Street, Goodfellas, Rounders, Boiler Room, 21, Wolf of Wall Street, etc than you may enjoy investing 90 minutes in this film. But I'd suggest only doing so when it when it comes on cable and not going out of your way to see it.

This is the Dream Team movie. I love Ben Affleck. I love Justin Timberlake. There is nothing better than the two of them together for this movie. Sure, it's a really sh*tty movie about gambling. It's basically 21 with Ben Affleck playing Kevin Spacey and Anthony Mackie as Laurence Fishburne. The story is so dumb, it is perfect. Who needs a good story? Who needs good acting. You have f*cking Ben Affleck and f*cking Justin Timberlake. I could just watch these guys sit in a room together talking. I don't need a loose storyline about alligators and cheating and all that bullsh*t. It's in there, they made d*mn sure they had some stupid storyline in there. I can't wait for Runner Runner 2 starring Mark Wahlberg and Eminem. In fact let's call it Faster Faster. They won't be online gambling though, they would do something even duller like golf or bowling. An underground bowling team, led by Mark Wahlberg, cheating it's way to the top brings in unsuspecting Eminem for the final show. Perfect. Anyway, this was a f*cking awesome movie if you like the two actors, if you don't, don't bother watching the movie.