‘Runner, Runner’ Reviews Are All In: ‘Uncompelling, Sketchy, Charmless, Limp’

The reviews are in for the online gambling thriller “Runner, Runner” and they aren’t very good.  In fact, to date, just 20 percent of critics at movie review aggregator site RottenTomatoes.com have given the film a thumb’s up.  Audience reviews were equally as harsh, though somewhat limited.

Richie, a Princeton college student played by Justin Timberlake, travels to Costa Rica to confront the on-line mastermind, Ivan, whom he believes has swindled him out of monies wagered on his Web poker site.

Ivan, played by Ben Affleck, sees a kindred spirit in Richie and brings the younger man into his operation. When the stakes get incredibly high and dangerous, and Richie comes to fully understand the deviousness of his new boss, he tries to turn the tables on him.

Many industry observers have called the film “shallow” and “unrealistic” while the American Gaming Association (AGA) suggests the fictional tale is “close to reality”.  They have produced an ad campaign around the film as a way to encourage policymakers in the US to push for regulation of the industry.

Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter writes:

What's actually up onscreen in this vaguely ambitious but tawdry melodrama falls into an in-between no-man's-land that endows it with no distinction whatsoever, a work lacking both style and insight into the netherworld it seeks to reveal. Despite an intriguing set-up and Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake heading the cast, this Fox release holds a losing box-office hand.

Ali Gray of the UK review site TheShiznit.co.uk offered up a good analogy:

In poker terms, Runner Runner is the player who wins an average stack of chips, bets moderately, cashes out even and leaves before the game gets interesting.

Runner Runner is a movie that looks quite nice, hums along at a fair old clip and doesn't stumble over any idiotic plot points or feature any particularly bad performances. It is also one of the most forgettable movies I have ever seen. I've seen two separate people say that they look forward to watching Runner Runner on a long-haul flight, and they're exactly right. It's not a film I could ever recommend anyone watch unless they were trapped in a highly pressurised metal tube in the sky. Perhaps it's no coincidence the screening I attended had complimentary bags of peanuts.

Stella Papamichael of DigitalSpy.com had this to offer:

If there is a growing sense of desperation, it only exists behind the camera as Furman runs out of ideas to ramp up the tension. Guns are drawn and the crocs get a taste of human blood, but he still has trouble raising the stakes because, basically, Richie is too shallow. Indeed, the entire cast is short-changed in a film that prioritises cheap thrills over characters you can invest in, and the problem is compounded by a plot that is designed by the numbers.

As alluded to earlier, 20 percent of film critics have given “Runner, Runner” a positive review.

Louise Keller of Urban Cinefile is in the minority here:

Offering all the ingredients for a riveting film experience filled with twists and turns, lurches and surprises, Runner Runner is a guilty pleasure of a rollercoaster ride with high stakes. And a satisfying one, at that.

Her counterpart, Andrew L. Urban, agrees to some extent, though hardly seems as enthused:

Workmanlike but missing that special glue to really involve us (unlike Affleck's The Town, say), Runner Runner is occasionally engaging and sometimes thrilling; just not often enough.

“Runner, Runner” will open in theatres nationwide October 4.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com