Runner, Runner

It has that theme which is quite used in the genre of thrillers; gambling. Runner, Runner starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck is a movie that just can’t get out of its dullness even in its very short running time. With a narrative that just can’t go beyond usual tortures, styles, love angles and used up modus of operandi this gambling flick just isn’t worth spending your money.

Richie Furst is a gambling agent who takes the students of his university to join the online gambling/gaming and he earns a commission for getting these guys to play and that’s how he finds his tuition fees. Knowing this act, the dean of the university threatens to expel him and to find the fund for his masters’ degree Richie puts his everything on a poker game and looses it. The mysteries in his failure leads to his departure to Costa Rica where he plans to meet the owner of the website Ivan Block and ask the money back as he found some kind of cheating in the website. The movie tries to narrate this episode of Richie’s life where he gets attracted to the glamour of that world and how he falls in the trap and how he eventually comes out of it.

As I said, the movie is quite dull. They can’t really setup a convincing backdrop for this story and even after the entry of the cool attitude carrying antagonist, the script can’t really find a twist or turn that would make us say “Now that’s interesting”. FBI infiltrations, internal issues among the badies in the business, a predictable love angle and those typical threatening of the villain are all there for you to look at and none of them would really impress you.  By the time we reach the final point where they have created a climax which is slightly better than the whole movie’s numbness, there won’t be much energy left in us to applaud the film making effort.

Brad Furman’s making lacks that kick which was essential for the thriller. The script as I already said is simply filling the formula with unimpressive Mafioso attitudes. The dialogs aren’t that great. Cinematography doesn’t offer anything to enhance the visual beauty. Edits and background score are ok.

On screen, Justin Timberlake is that misfit gambler who lacks the attitude and for the amount of outlook Ben Affleck pours into his character they should have wrote some delicious dialogs. Gemma Christina doesn’t have much to offer than to heat up the screen occasionally. Rest of the cast was ok in their uninteresting characters.

Runner, runner is a dull ride without any surprises. My rating is a 2/5 for this thriller from Brad Furman. Just watch, yawn, smile and forget.