Runner Runner

An unmitigated disaster virtually from start to finish, Runner Runner follows Justin Timberlake’s Richie Furst as he loses his life’s savings in a game of online poker and decides to ask the owner of the site (Ben Affleck’s Ivan Block) for his money back – with this ludicrous setup paving the way for a hackneyed and hopelessly by-the-numbers thriller. There’s just never a point at which the viewer is wholeheartedly drawn into the deliberately-paced proceedings, with the movie’s arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by a surprisingly underwhelming performance by Timberlake. Though he’s been quite good in films like The Social Network and Black Snake Moan, Timberlake just doesn’t possess the necessary gravitas or presence required of a leading man – with the actor’s inability to command the screen especially noticeable during his scenes alongside Affleck (ie Affleck’s certainly got that movie-star quality that Timberlake lacks). Far more problematic, however, is Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s aggressively run-of-the-mill screenplay, as the scripters place a continuous emphasis on elements that couldn’t possibly be more familiar and tiresome (ie the movie often feels as though it’s emerged directly from a template for thrillers of this ilk). Runner Runner‘s completely uninvolving midsection leads into an action-heavy finale that’s as boring as it is misguided, and it’s ultimately impossible to downplay the rampant ineffectiveness of virtually every aspect of the proceedings.

* out of ****