Expected more

Boring

An unexpected masterpiece

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I read the reviews on this site, and Rotten Tomatoes, they were 90% negative. I thought I'll give it a view anyway, I can always switch over if it's truly as bad as they report. It starts off and the premise is very promising, a student notices on a gambling site, a statistical variation that is unlikely to be genuine. He decides to confront the Big Boss in person. The story develops from there, with authentic well delivered dialogue. What the critics appear to have dismissed as slick and contrived is actually how the gambling business works, its an industry, a very professionally run industry .Every machine takes a pre- arranged percentage, every game works on a pre- determined margin. The story develops well the action is good. Even the ending would have been OK if it had had the build up and tension up to that point. It was just that last reel that detached itself from the preceding film. I would have given it eight with a consistent finale, a much better film than the critique suggests.

Runner Runner is a mediocre movie with a lackluster storyline and a mostly talented, wasted cast. The set up is good and the opening is certainly the best part, as we see Justin Timberlake's character putting his casino skills to the test, as well as an interesting turn from Ben Affleck as the antagonist. However, Affleck is very underused, his screen time is limited and we never get to see him truly become the character as a result of poor writing, he is never seen at the forefront of his organisation. As well as that, the plot wears thin very early on, it starts off promising, but it soon becomes clear that this movie was made for a few bucks, it did not want to take any risks, or be original whatsoever. Though it has its moments, Runner Runner is a forgetful ninety minutes that you would be better off skipping. A finance whiz kid goes in to a league with a gambling mogul, but soon finds out his boss is not all he seems. Best Performance: Ben Affleck Worst Performance: Gemma Arterton

This is actually a mix of a lot of genres and as the films story it all gets a bit mixed and matched and it seems like some things are not really explained or not really closed, this is a shame because the players are very charismatic, there is some great dialog (both witty and serious) and it is actually an entertaining movie with interesting scenes and scenarios.It might not be Ben Afflecks best performance, but I think he does a good job at being and dumb son of a bitch :), not Justin Timberlakes finest hour either, but he also has a good character that slowly discovers what he is dealing with and given his seemingly high intelligence in other accounts, he is blinded by the money and the acknowledgment, but it doesn't really fits his character.It is an entertaining film, but it was not what it was market to be, it could and should have been more, maybe half an hour longer to really show some of the things that was missing and close of parts of the story that was left behind.

Justin Timberlake plays Richie Furst a Wall Street wannabee who got downsized and went to University where he supports himself through online gambling activities.He risks everything on an online card game to get enough money for tuition fees and reckons he has been swindled by the online gaming company. He flies out to Costa Rica to confront the owner of the company, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck).When Block sees the evidence that Furst has gathered he offers him his money back but also offers him a job with an attractive salary. An offer too good to turn down. Furst excels in his role and even gets some of his University chums down to help out but a FBI agent warns him that Ivan is a no good con man who is up to his ears in dirty dealings.The film starts off interestingly enough and then goes straight down the predictable and boring route. Furst falls for Block's girl, Block punishes Furst because he realises that he is hitting on his girl and then Furst realises that he has been played and needs to plot his revenge. There is little by way of thrills and tension as you probably worked it out beforehand.Dull, dumb, badly written, two dimensional characters and poor acting.