‘RUNNER RUNNER’ – Doesn’t Hit The Jackpot!
“Know when to walk away” is the tagline for 20th Century Fox’s film ‘RUNNER RUNNER’ starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck. Those familiar with ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers know the rest of line in the song is “…and know when to run”. ‘RUNNER RUNNER’ provides entertainment, but the film doesn’t actually ever break a sweat.
In an effort to pay his upcoming tuition, Richie Furst (Timberlake) throws the dice on his entire bankroll via an online gambling site. After losing, he uses his gambling knowledge, personal connections and experience to confirm his suspicions that the site, Midnight Black, is corrupt. Next, Furst pursues a face-to-face with the gambling page’s owner Ivan Block (Affleck) in Costa Rica, where the operation is based.
Block’s response to evidence that his site is twisting numbers is to offer Furst a job. This begins Furst’s real life gaming experience, as he is thrust in to a spinning roulette wheel requiring him to desperately claws for his life in an effort to discover whom he can trust just to stay alive.
Actually, it’s not that exciting. Perhaps “Slow and steady wins the race” could have been a tagline for this movie? With a 91-minute running time, the scenes in the film show exactly what the viewer needs for plot building, however, the pace lacks adrenaline and never ups the ante. Both Affleck’s and Timberlake’s performance is all in, but none of the characters in the film create strong sentiment. Even the gorgeous Gemma Arterton, who portrays Block’s assistant, doesn’t show a strong enough hand to steal scenes.
That being said, I did expect a movie with this storyline to gush about the lavish lifestyle high rollers at the top of the “Vegas” power chain seem to portray via endless montages of partying and billionaire playboy activities. It doesn’t. Block has luxury cars, yachts and beautiful women, but the film shows his habits as controlled and very sober. He clearly has access to high end toys and privileges, like having Deadmau5 DJ one of his parties, but he doesn’t break his poker face for anyone. Even the scene featuring the verbal outline of his multi-million dollar weekly income to Furst is matter of fact.
If you are throwing your dice on a new date, this could be a safe bet. You don’t have to worry about your date being offended with unnecessary profanity, the length is reasonable, and it lacks controversy and excessive nudity. Further, while the actors are known for their sex appeal, the director Brad Furman holds back on that too, which means you don’t have to worry about your date obsessing over the stars and forgetting about you.
