Ever get the feeling mere minutes after a movie begins that you generally know how everything will ultimately play out? Runner Runner feels like a movie that was created and plotted in a studio boardroom using a screenwriting manual. It’s so generically plotted and personality free that its by-the-numbers approach kills any suspense or thrills one would expect or hope for.
Richie (Justin Timberlake) is a Princeston grad student struggling to make ends meet. An expert online poker player, he bets it all on a gambling site only to lose everything. Certain that underhanded methods were used against him, he travels to Costa Rica and confronts site owner Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Block offers him vast riches and fancy parties as an employee and Richie immediately accepts. However, the protagonist soon learns that the internet gambling kingpin is under the watch of an FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) and realizes that extortion, pay-offs and blackmailing are a big part the empire. Can Richie get out before it’s too late?
The movie looks slick and lavishes a lot of camera time on the lavish lifestyles of the rich and crooked. Yet there isn’t much meat to the characters. Our hero, while cash-strapped, frequently comes across as arrogant and hardly the type of character to feel much sympathy for. And while Affleck manages a good crack or two, even he comes across as a little too likable for a supposedly vicious crook.
A romantic sub-plot is also weakly written. After Block organization co-head Rebecca (Gemma Arterton) has a brief fling with Richie, she falls for him immediately, because this time, “it feels different.” Rebecca suddenly decides to help him bring down Block and her own outfit. What exactly is “different” about their relationship or time together is never really clear. We’re just supposed to take her word for it. Ultimately. none of this is the fault of the cast, who try gamely, it’s just a script that doesn’t offer any character details or nuances to invest viewers or present any twists in a believable manner.
Additionally, considering the story is about a rough criminal organization, the movie is so tame that it’s hard to believe how it could have received an R rating. Any threat of violence is never convincing and most scuffles don’t have any notable consequences, killing dramatic tension. There are a few cuss words and some scantily clad women, but this certainly seems like bland PG-13 material through and through.
Finally, the film’s theme is stated when a character informs Richie of the potential danger of his behavior by stating, “What we touch, touches us.” This code is ignored in the implausible final act that features Richie attempting to reverse the odds and escape with everything in his favor. It’s another decision that feels as if it was made by committee.
In the end, despite all these criticisms, Runner Runner is technically well made and sports a decent cast. The screenplay is just too formulaic, obvious and unoriginal to engage.