Runner Runner (2013)
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Reviews Counted: 107
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 97
It has an impressive cast and an intriguing premise, but Runner Runner wastes them on a bland, haphazardly assembled thriller with very little payoff.
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 23
It has an impressive cast and an intriguing premise, but Runner Runner wastes them on a bland, haphazardly assembled thriller with very little payoff.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 29,862
Movie Info
Richie, a Princeton college student who pays for school with on-line gambling, bottoms out and travels to Costa Rica to confront the on-line mastermind, Ivan, whom he believes has swindled him. Ivan 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.
Cast
-
Ben Affleck
Ivan Block -
Justin Timberlake
Richie Furst -
Gemma Arterton
Rebecca Shafran -
Anthony Mackie
FBI Special Agent Sh... -
Oliver Cooper
Andrew Cronin -
Ben Schwartz
Craig -
Michael Esper
Billy 'Pet' Petricof... -
David Costabile
Professor Horstein -
Sam Palladio
Shecky
ADVERTISEMENT
Runner Runner Trailer & Photos
Friend Ratings
No Friends? Inconceivable! Log in to see what your friends have to say.
All Critics (107) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (97)
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.
Top CriticThe mannered speech is fun, the players are charismatic, and director Brad Furman maintains an agreeably brisk pace.
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.
Takes us inside the world of Internet gambling which proves every bit as fascinating as you'd imagine, by which I mean, not at all.
He's back! Behold, the second coming of . . . Badfleck.
Justin Timberlake can not carry a movie on his own and this one sinks under his efforts. Still the plot of the movie is pretty much run of the mill in its own right
There's nothing glaringly wrong with it, but it's so glossily mediocre that it's impossible to recommend to anyone not contemplating a lengthy plane journey.
Stars Justin Timberlake, the perfect vanilla pseudoadult for a story of pseudoadult intrigues and pleasures.
Runner Runner gives both [Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck] room to show what they can do, and rather than pump up the volume, they play it close to the vest, as good gamblers would.
Director Furman and cinematographer Mauro Fiore make lovely work of the tropical light, but the film has none of the loose-limbed energy of Furman's stealth hit, The Lincoln Lawyer.
This lurid and choppy morality tale is a pale copy of those Ben Mezrich books about Ivy League guys who get in over their heads by gambling.
Will Richie regain his moral compass? Can our young turk turn the tables on his scheming mentor? If you're hoping for a surprise answer to any of these questions, then you are watching the wrong movie.
The eye rolls are plentiful during this far-fetched thriller that provides little insight into corruption in the high-stakes world of online gambling.
No reason to run run to see Runner Runner.
Unremarkable Internet gambling thriller, where every move made is a losing one.
Runner Runner feels like a movie you've seen a hundred times on cable, and hearkens back to numerous, thoroughly average, mid-budgeted dramatic thrillers of the mid-'90s that will fill programming slots on late night forever.
It looks like everybody's lying, and that's only because the acting is pretty bad.
A generic Hollywood thriller that has dumbed itself down and forgets about characters.
Runner Runner" is a lifeless dramatic crime thriller that is never able to wake up from hibernation. It's like a tasteless alcoholic concoction that no amount of shaking or stirring could possibly add any sort of flavor to.
Runner Runner is elevated by solid performances but, for a story about gambling and striving for greatness, the film (ironically) takes very few risks.
Runner Runner falls flat, and keeps getting up when it really should just stay down.
Audience Reviews for Runner Runner
Super Reviewer
Ivan: Because The House always wins.
Runner Runner is the kind of trashy B-movie that doesn't aspires to build a whole lot of expectation for the viewer. It simply wants to be seen as watchable. The film is harmless in what it presents, but it is a shame that no one really seems to care how effective this film turned out overall. It has a mix of good actors and good-looking locations, but the screenplay is so bland and paint-by-numbers that the sense of urgency in a film that literally has people hounded by crocodiles feels completely missing. There is an interesting idea to explore in the world of online gambling and how they are run by offshore companies, but Runner Runner fails to find it.
read the whole review at thecodeiszeek.com
Super Reviewer
Great Movie!!! I'm proud to say I was part of this movie, I was an extra and i'm shown on camera on 2 scenes during the underground casino basement parts. I very much enjoy this film not only because I was part of it but because the movie is just cool to watch and intriguing based on true events. It was film in my home country of Puerto Rico (not Costa Rica) which is a beautiful island full of beautiful people. "Runner Runner" shows a life of excess in an exotic paradise, which captivates the student crippled by university fees. From beautiful scenery to hedonistic lifestyle, there is simply everything the young man can imagine. Soon afterwards, he discovers that his job is not as sweet as he thought it was, and he had to get himself out of the terrible mess. With Ben Affleck the Oscar winner, and Justin Timberlake the heartthrob, "Runner Runner" has a winning formula. The script is tight and full of surprises, I enjoyed the ride through the exotic paradise and the dark underworld of the corrupt corporation.
Princeton grad student Richie, believing he's been swindled, travels to Costa Rica to confront online gambling tycoon Ivan Block. Richie is seduced by Block's promise of immense wealth, until he learns the disturbing truth about his benefactor. When the FBI tries to coerce Richie to help bring down Block, Richie faces his biggest gamble ever: attempting to outmaneuver the two forces closing in on him.
Super Reviewer
Having missed its press screening, I caught 'Runner Runner' on its opening day and was instantly reminded why I hate public screenings. Seated two rows ahead and to my right was an idiot with a smartphone, or should that be "idiotphone", the light from which could have been used by a Gestapo officer to interrogate a suspected member of the French Resistance. I waited patiently through the commercials and trailers but when the offender showed no signs of putting the device away, I was forced to shout a warning across the rows. To my pleasant surprise, the light was immediately turned off (usually they either ignore me or begrudgingly comply, comparing me to a piece of male anatomy under their breath) and I relaxed into my seat. Halfway through Brad Furman's "thriller" I was beginning to regret taking such a stern stance, as a beam of light in the corner of my eye would have provided a welcome distraction from the inanity onscreen.
Those irate about Affleck's casting in 'Superman & Batman's High School Reunion', or whatever it's to be called, won't be reassured by his performance here, as the actor seems to be in some kind of hypnotic trance. To be fair, only someone under the influence of a hypnotist could have read this script and agreed to any further involvement. Arterton seems genuinely disinterested throughout, like a pretty girl desperate to escape from a disastrous blind date. The only person making any effort is Timberlake, but his usual boundless enthusiasm here resembles a family member cracking jokes at a funeral to lighten the mood; nobody's appreciating it.
The script makes the plot seem a lot more complicated than it actually is and I couldn't help wonder if an earlier draft didn't feature a homoerotic sub-plot between Affleck and Timberlake, as there are several moments where Affleck looks on with jealousy as Timberlake romances Arterton, but it's never made exactly clear who he's jealous of. Had this been explored further it would have at least provided the ounce of originality this film badly requires.
Super Reviewer
-
- Richie: I'll be happy to tell my boss that you are not happy.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Tomatometer? | 12 days ago | 54 |
| Is this movie worth the price of an admission ticket? | 7 days ago | 20 |
| Justin Timberlaker | 2 days ago | 9 |
What's Hot On RT
The Counselor: eccentric and uneven
Old People Behaving Badly
Best and worst movie lawyers gallery
The 75 best horror movies
See what's on TV tonight
Latest News on Runner Runner
October 4, 2013:
Critics Consensus: Gravity is Certified FreshThis week at the movies, we've got stranded astronauts (Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George...
October 3, 2013:
Ben Affleck's Best MoviesOnce upon a time, it looked like Ben Affleck might spend the rest of his career in little-seen duds...
Fresh Links
Featured
13 Terrifying Movies on Netflix
Need a good fright flick right away? RollingStone points out a handful available to stream right now.
Scariest Horror Movies
Moviefone lists 10 movies they think are actually honest-to-god scary.
100 Best Horror Movies
TimeOut NY polled over 100 actors, directors, and horror icons to come up with this comprehensive list.
Pop Culture Halloween Costumes
Need an idea for the 31st? Here are a whopping 350 of them!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Weekly Ketchup: J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan to Finish Star Wars 7 Script 19
- Parental Guidance: Halloween Edition 0
- Primetime Preview: Grimm, Dracula and More 4
- Critics Consensus: The Counselor is Eccentric but Uneven 47
- Weekly Binge: Homeland 8
- Primetime Preview: The Big Bang Theory, Scandal and More 3
- Movies With Old People Behaving Badly 30
Top Headlines
-
World Series Notches Another Ratings Victory for Fox
0
-
Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak Scheduled for April 2015
0
-
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Moves to January 2014
0
-
Clive Barker Writing Hellraiser Remake
1
-
Comcast Offering HBO to Non-Cable Subscribers
0
-
Tomas Alfredson Remaking Brothers Lionheart
0
-
Paul Scheer Talks The League, His New Pilot, and More
0
Foreign Titles
- Runner, Runner (DE)
- Players (FR)
