Runner, Runner

**
UK Release Date: September 24th 2013

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.

Director: Brad Furman (Lincoln Lawyer, The Take)

Starring: Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton, Ben Affleck, Anthony Mackie

It's a shame for Ben Affleck that this is such a flop considering Argo was such a worldwide success. Putting director Brad Furman and a great cast together doesn't create a masterpiece. His film Lincoln Lawyer was always tense and full suspense. Runner, Runner has none whatsoever.

The 91 minute running time seems to fly by with nothing much happening. The script has no depth, making our hero Richie Furst (Timberlake) and villain Ivan Block (Affleck) boring. 

Furst is a desperate student who gambles all of his tuition money away through online poker. He soon realises he's cheated of it all by Ivan Block, the corrupt poker mogul who owns the game. Desperate to get his money back, Richie tracks Ivan down. That's only the start of it as he easily gets roped into being Ivan's personal croney. It gets even more complicated when Block's lover Rebecca (Arterton) and a crooked FBI agent (Mackie) get involved. 

There's no poker playing in Runner, Runner (apart from the huge loss at the beginning). It's focuses on the lose relationship between Furst and Block. The narrative plods along predictably. When Furst gets in to some real trouble, it's impossible to show any interest. Gemma Arterton's character has little input other than to cause a rift between ex-boyfriend and new boyfriend, and Affleck's villain has fallen out of a James Bond film, but isn't as convincing. 

Timberlake has done well as a lead in previous films (In Time, Friends with Benefits), but struggles to find new ground in Runner, Runner. Everything blows over like a soft breeze.