Runner Runner2013
Runner Runner (2013)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: It has an impressive cast and an intriguing premise, but Runner Runner wastes them on a bland, haphazardly assembled thriller with very little payoff.
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Movie Info
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Cast
as Richie Furst
as Rebecca Shafran
as Ivan Block
as FBI Special Agent Shavers
as Andrew Cronin
as Craig
as Billy 'Pet' Petricoff
as Professor Horstein
as Shecky
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Critic Reviews for Runner Runner
All Critics (117) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (108)
The actors hit the jackpot, but only in terms of their paychecks. The audience gets a tension-free, tight-assed, Casino ripoff that leaves them thoroughly fleeced.
The mannered speech is fun, the players are charismatic, and director Brad Furman maintains an agreeably brisk pace.
It looks like everybody's lying, and that's only because the acting is pretty bad.
The movie mostly wants to look timely and seem topical. Instead, it feels irrelevant.
Various subplots are given short shrift and the whole thing feels more like a Cliff's Notes version of a longer piece than an actual finished motion picture.
Just when it seems like the writing can't get any lazier, Richie fills in the narrative blanks via a voice-over that squeezes in every gambling metaphor this side of Las Vegas
Audience Reviews for Runner Runner
Nothing wrong with the acting, directing or cinematography per se, but the story is just very very mundane and uninteresting. Whoever came up with the idea of telling a story in the online gaming milieu must have really loved it, because everyone else will just react with a gigantic shrug. You can't even cheer for the hero or hate the bad guy, that's how indifferent all that makes you feel.
Super Reviewer
The plot is indeed predictable and not one bit remarkable for that matter, but even so this is a somewhat decent (and well-edited) thriller that benefits a lot from some good performances - which hold us in our seats as we see it unveil like a fine poker game.
Super Reviewer
If they gave an award for Worst Movie Trailer for the year, I'm sure this would win it. I remember seeing it and just being like "man that is a horrible trailer, the movie can't possible be that bad", and it actually is. Justin Timberlake plays a Princeton student who loves to gamble and plays online poker to pay his tuition. When he is cheated on a big game and loses everything he decides to go to Costa Rica and confront the man behind the website, Ivan Block(Ben Affleck). So he confronts him and Affleck gives him a refund and offers him a 7 figure job right there on the spot. Yup, just like that. Timberlake then finds out the Block is a bad guy to do business with as the F.B.I is after him. First, the performances are horrible! I like Timberlake and Affleck, but they are so miscast here it's laughable. This is the worst Timberlake has been in a movie yet, and Affleck is the most unconvincing mobster I may have ever seen. There were a couple times in this they had a chance to go further and save the movie, but they hold back. Really makes the movie feel like it is lacking the balls needs for a mobster flick. It's dumb, pointless, and a waste of time. Just skip it and watch "Rounders" instead, now there is a good gambling movie.
Super Reviewer
Runner Runner Quotes
| Ivan Block: | What did you expect me to do, Richie? Walk into my party, accuse me of cheating in front of all my friends. I can't let that go by. That's the problem with your generation. You guys sat around with your vintage T-shirts and your participation medal, and you never did anything. |
| Ivan Block: | That little voice in the back of your head right now, it's not conscience, it's fear. |
| Richie: | I'll be happy to tell my boss that you are not happy. |