Film Review: Runner Runner

Director: Brad Furman

A 2013 crime drama which moves the high stakes world of the casino into the online realm. This film will feel very familiar to fans of films like 21 but the glamour of Las Vegas is replaced with a off-shore venues where the internet casino is king. Unfortunately Runner Runner doesn't match the slick casino dramas that have gone before with a very familiar and unsurprising plot. Brad Furman is mostly known for his previous films The Lincoln Lawyer.

Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) is trying to pay his way through Princeton University by referring students to an internet gambling site and receiving a fee for his referral. He is told to stop this by the Dean of the university who receives complaints so he decides to gamble all his savings online and loses. But Richie believes it was because he was cheating so goes to Costa Rica to speak to Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) about the loopholes in his website and to claim his money back. Ivan agrees to pay him back and offers him a job with him working on the website but how legal is Ivan's operation?

Richie and Ivan

The plot is formulaic and unsurprising in its twists, its no shock to learn that Richie won't be having an easy trouble free life whilst he earns millions working for Ivan. Gemma Arterton appears as the dull femme fatale who tries to make you second guess her intentions when really you know all along what she will do in the finale. It's a lazy film that spends most of its time by the pool or at a party without creating characters you're really rooting for or even care about.

1.5/4 Dull and lazy crime caper