NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Micransix Crappy film

Woodyanders Princeton grad student Richie Furst (a solid and likeable performance by Justin Timberlake) loses a ton of cash in a rigged online poker game. Furst goes to Costa Rica to confront slick and corrupt gambling tycoon Ivan Block (zestfully played to the slimy hilt by Ben Affleck), who Furst believes swindled him out of his money. However, Block finds himself seduced by Block's lavish lifestyle. While director Brad Furman keeps the reasonably enjoyable story moving along at a brisk pace and brings a dazzling glittery style to the proceedings, this film alas fails to generate much in the way of essential tension due to the grinding predictability of the script by David Levien and Brian Koppelman: It's pretty obvious from the get go that Furst is getting played for a sucker by Block and hence will ultimately roll over to help the feds bring Block down. Fortunately, the sturdy cast keeps this film watchable: Anthony Mackie as hard-nosed FBI agent Shavers, Oliver Cooper as nerdy computer wonk Andrew Cronin, John Heard as Furst's deadbeat dad Harry, and Yul Vasquez as the vicious Herrera. However, Gemma Arterton in the thankless token hot babe role is given precious little to do outside of stand on the sidelines and look foxy. Both Mauro Fiore's glossy widescreen cinematography and Christophe Beck's pulsating score are up to par. A passable diversion.

adonis98-743-186503 When a poor college student who cracks an online poker game goes bust, he arranges a face-to-face with the man he thinks cheated him, a sly offshore entrepreneur. Runner Runner was a giant box office flop when it first came out and the reviews weren't that good either and since 2013 i have seen the film 3 times and personally i think it was pretty good. It's not another 'Casino' or 'Oceans Trilogy' but it's a pretty good film and personally i liked both Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake in this movie and the same goes for Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie and the late John Heard. You know exactly what you're getting into it does have a few action set pieces, a lot of gambling and even tho you can see some things happening from miles away i was still impressed by it it's something that neither of this actors have done before and it was something that i enjoyed and if you didn't that's alright but maybe give it another chance.

Dave McClain Money. Exotic locales. Money. Sex. Money. What's not to like? Not only are those things part of the appeal of "Runner Runner" (R, 1:31), but they're also what tempt the lead character into a situation that eventually threatens to deprive him of everything he's working for.Justin Timberlake plays Richie Furst, a brilliant student in a master's mathematics program at Princeton. When his attempts to fund his education through online poker backfire, he gets desperate. Now, Richie isn't just your average gambler. He knows poker, and gambling runs in his family, as we understand when we meet Richie's father (John Heard). Richie uses his knowledge of gambling, mathematics and computers to gather proof that he was cheated. He flies to Costa Rica to confront the man behind the poker website in question – Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), an American entrepreneur who may or may not be a legitimate businessman.Their encounter leads Ivan to hire Richie to help him run his website. Richie's good at it and it's a shortcut to everything he hoped his Ivy League education would bring him. Meanwhile, a relationship develops between Richie and Ivan's former lover, Rebecca (Gemma Arterton). Things are going swimmingly for Richie until Anthony Mackie's FBI Agent Shavers steps in and tries to threaten Richie into turning against his employer. Will he or won't he? Which of these characters are the criminals and which are just doing their jobs? The answers eventually reveal each character's true allegiances, just as Richie seems hopelessly boxed in on all sides.This is an above-average thriller that keeps you guessing. Justin Timberlake has legitimate acting chops and it was fun to see Ben Affleck take on such a morally ambiguous character, and nice to see that he didn't overplay his hand. This movie is part "Ocean's 11" and part "The Firm", but still manages to feel original. The twists and turns are many, but allow the audience to keep up and enjoy getting the answers to those questions I mentioned earlier. "Runner Runner" isn't what I would call brilliant, but it's reasonably well-constructed and pretty entertaining. "B"

FlashCallahan Richie is a student who's having trouble paying his tuition.He helps other students who want to gamble online, but for a small fee. When he gambles online himself, he loses but believes he was cheated.He goes to Costa Rica, where the site is generated from, and shows the owner, Ivan Block, proof that he was cheated.Block then offers him a job which he takes, and begins to learn how he does business. But the FBI want to nail Block, and intimidate Richie to help them......The structure for films like this are as old as the hills.Good guy confronts a high powered businessman, said man offers big money, there's always a good looking girl involved, cops close in, businessman tries to frame good guy, and so on.When you watch this film, you could be forgiven with thinking that the makers have completely ripped off Wall Street, because the narrative flows in the same way that movie did, Guy thinks he's made it, but his world comes slowly crashing.Even the dad's get involved in both movies.To criticise this movie would be too easy, it's been done hundreds of times before, much better, but for a piece of fluff movie, with nice locations, and good looking people, you could do a lot worse.Timberlake isn't the best actor in the world, but he can hold his own, and he has decent chemistry with Arterton, who is really just there as a plot point to get Richie and Ivan in some sort of subliminal feud.If you thought Affleck was great in movies such as Paycheck (which he obviously did this movie for), Gigli, and Deception, you've got him back here.He's phoning it in, and you know he just took the part for the money, and the holiday.Mackie is the best thing here, bringing a little tension and humour to a stale narrative.It's a dud, for sure, but it's a guilty pleasure.Take a gamble.