Though this would-be high-tension drama declares to be about the high-stakes world of online gambling, that fib is discarded early for a regular plot involving a young guy mentored in shiftiness by a charismatic criminal. As a way to seem authentic, a banal voiceover throws around phrases like “You gotta go all-in or cash out!”

Runner, Runner is a poker term which is made by hitting two consecutive cards on the turn and the river. How the movie gets this title isn’t evident throughout this 100-minute movie.

Runner Runner is a glossy crime thriller that submerges itself in the world of online gambling, shady casinos, and dishonest businesses. Brad Furman has made a high stakes cat-and-mouse game that meshes the flash of Las Vegas with the gravel of Costa Rica.

When a poor student (Timberlake) goes bust with his savings to pay his way through college, he travels to Costa Rica to deal with the man (Ben Affleck) at the back of the online poker website that tricked him.

Runner Runner takes its signals from Wall Street, The Social Network, and The Rum Diary. Our smart hero, Richie Furst played by Justin Timberlake used his skill and connections to make money as an online gambler. When he runs dry, he’s ready to gamble again… and again, digging a debt of favors to a gambling kingpin.

Wall Street’s Gordon Gecko would be proud of Ivan Block, brought to life by Ben Affleck. The self-made millionaire has created a gambling kingdom and adopted Richie Furst as a “novice.” Power corrupts, and Block is hell-bent on keeping his head above water at any cost. As he grooms Furst, we come to realize that he has hidden motives.

To spice things up, Runner Runner has a similar rise and fall to The Rum Diary. The film’s quick pacing and spirit of island accident give our hero a fleeting taste of glory, where cars, yachts, and private jets fast are a way of life for Block and his partner. In a state where representatives are on the payroll, the standards of living of the famous and rich come with a price tag.

Justin Timberlake takes on the type of role that producer, Leonardo DiCaprio, would’ve maybe played about a decade ago. The young, nice and vulnerable upstart with flexible ideals and violent trends repeats his roles from Catch Me If You Can and The Beach movies. Though, it’s Timberlake who runs the range this time as a medium for the audience.

Ben Affleck was a right casting call as Ivan Block, and you can see why he’s been preferred as the next Batman. He pulls off the rich, dark and intricate role with comparative ease. He and Timberlake share several good moments, and you buy into his unofficial status as the Wizard of Oz. He plays the slippery bad guy with energy; managing to prove you he’s so far wrong, he may be right.

The casting of Gemma Arterton, though, is one of the weakest points of the movie. She is a rising star but appears a bit out-of-place in this film. She was better in song for Marion as a sweet girl-next-door type role. In Runner Runner, she’s not as convincing…genuine but merely miscast in an unappreciated character that would have been better played by an actress like Amber Heard or Olivia Wilde.

Runner Runner digs into the same region as the ’80s TV series, Wise guy; to the point that it could have been an inside work for Vinnie Terranova. There’s an interesting parallel between the game of poker and Furst’s journey as he tries to swim with the big fish.

The film’s lightning speed doesn’t give you an option to think or fully invest in the characters. This is a smooth adventure movie, but it has an insipid undertone. You can’t do anything but feel that they should have spent more time in getting to know the characters. Instead, it all seems a bit too custom and flashy. It’s non-stop entertaining, but Runner Runner skips along the surface without breaking a sweat. The only spark of the movie to look at Affleck’s part slowly turn from a welcoming mentor to an alligator obsessed overlord.

A Lot to Say about Runner Runner

• The film begins out powerfully, with Furst at Princeton trying to earn a Master’s degree. To pay for his college, he has become associated with a few online casino sites where he gets commissions for every player he signs up. The Dean takes a not bright look on this and shuts Furst down. Desperate to get the $60K he needs to pay for the rest of his education, he risks his entire savings in poker and loses. When he understands he was cheated, he takes the unbelievable step of flying to Costa Rica and seeking out online gambling mogul Block. At their first meeting, Furst impresses Block, and the older man offers the brash kid from New Jersey a job with the guarantee of a seven-figure income. Who could turn that down?
• Runner Runner contains several elements, if adequately cherished and presented, could form the basis of a compelling film noir. Unfortunately, director Brad Furman is less interested in developing characters and building anxiety than he is in shaking the camera whenever there’s an action scene and rushing through the description so shockingly that the movie seems finish before it starts to get interesting. A variety of subplots are given short shrift, and the whole thing feels more like cliff’s notes side of a longer piece than an actual finished action picture.
• The movie has low goals that it never rises above. Ben Affleck gets to crush on some panorama. In his big scene, he seems to be trying (with little success) to channel Alec Baldwin from Glengarry Glenn Ross. Other than that, he’s the typical wolf in sheep’s clothing. Justin Timberlake continues to plan with his personality, but he’s still waiting for that exceptional character. Gemma looks gorgeous in dresses that show off her beautiful long legs, but she’s wickedly not used much and her screen time is so limited that any chemistry she might have with Timberlake never gets an opportunity to noticeable. Anthony Mackie doesn’t have much more to perform than Arterton, but at least he gets two great one-liners.
• Runner Runner manages the complicated task of developing zero worries from a story that should be crackling with it. The problem is that Furman appears to be in a rush. This is no doubt somewhat the fault of the screenplay, but there are scenes when the director bears the burden of the responsibility. Consider, for instance, a scene in which Timberlake’s Richie Furst is strong-armed into taking a boat ride with a couple of gangsters. We don’t know what’s awaiting him on the other side or even if he’s supposed to reach the other side. He has been invited by the Feds and laying the groundwork for his escape way, but does the bad guy, Affleck’s Ivan Block, know this? Instead of milking the journey for all the suspense it can deliver, Furman hurries through it, not giving us sufficient point to surprise whether Richie might be in danger before he’s out of it. This isn’t an isolated event. When it comes to ignored opportunities like this, Runner Runner is a repeat crook.
• Another failing of Runner Runner is that, despite providing a few tantalizing glimpses behind the screen of online gambling, it never shows the entire casino to flesh out the setting. Maybe that’s because the filmmakers felt it would slow down the quick pace. Or perhaps it’s because they didn’t do their research. Whatever the case, it’s just another reason why Runner Runner eventually feels empty and incomplete.
• The biggest limitation of the movie is the lack of connection between the gambling world and the characters in the movie itself. Early on, behind-the-scenes glance at the online gaming industry is captivating but the film never commits to maintaining the insight as of the more massive crime narrative locks into place. Throughout the film, Thurman attempts to remind viewers that Runner Runner is about gambling through heavy-handed images and exhibition that enlighten the connections between high-stakes poker and high-roller living but none of these ideas comes full circle by the end – as the story locks into a standard cat and mouse run after game.
• As a result, gambling enthusiasts will likely bring to a close that Runner Runner is a shallow, and outright superficial, look at their hobby or business while anyone hoping for a sharp-witted look behind-the-scenes will find the film prioritizes generic story beats over imaginative play. Rock-solid performances hint that, somewhere along the line, Thurman lost sight of any captivating hooks in his suspenseful gambling story – instead of delivering an ordinary and familiar narrative that, given the on-the-nose messages about striving for greatness, ironically, takes very few risks.