Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is a wealthy hedge fund manager, which has driven his company into a precarious financial position, hence cooking the books in order to sell off his company and thus his debt. In an effort to safeguard his family and employees Robert is actually somewhat caring for needs of others, even if this is filtered through a skewed moral compass. Nonetheless his daughter and company CFO Brooke (Brit Marling) still idolises him, at least until she discovers discrepancies within the financial papers. The hidden company losses are not Robert's only dark side, as he regularly cheats on his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) with Spanish artist Julie Cote (Laetitia Casta). One night, with a big company sell-off looming, Robert's situation complicates further as a drunk driving accident causes the death of Julie, whilst he himself opts for escaping the scene of the accident. Running out of options Robert calls Harlem-based Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker) for assistance...
Nicholas Jarecki's debut is a choppy start for the promising director. Not without its intriguing concepts "Arbitrage" falls foul to a plot overreach, where the failure is mostly on rampaging lack of focus. An enjoyable thriller does throw in several ideas and unlike most features ends on a high, which helps to gloss over inconsistencies within, most pronouncedly the case of det. Michael Bryer played by Tim Roth, who drops out of the picture without any closure.
The character of Robert is presented as a likable person, who acts questionably under duress, but ultimately has morality, albeit one with a drastically skewed logic. Unlike "Wall Street" the story doesn't delve into the despicable and manipulative world of financiers (albeit they do play some role, with a key scene at the end, where the mogul who purchased Robert's business meaningfully turns a blind eye to his accounting shenanigans). Instead it deals with the broken morality of the wealthy and the family context within which they function. Despite Richard's obvious guilt he deems it justified to avoid arrest in order to save his company, but does not feel overly guilt-ridden by involving an innocent ordinary Afroamerican into his affairs, thus possibly condemning him to prison. As Jimmy has an extreme sense of honour, he shows a stronger backbone than all others involved. Robert's wife for instance will not back down from blackmailing her husband in return for an alibi. Despite a somewhat cumbersome delivery of the story the conflicts of moral stances remains the most intriguing ingredient of the thriller. The somewhat predictable story offers certain twists are introduced by Jarecki to liven up proceedings, although simultaneously this does introduce too much distracting subplots.
The overall ending comes off as delightfully ambiguous, as Robert avoids prison, thus suggesting that the wealthy as destined to live through their own set of rules. This does not however mean that there is no blow-back, justice, as Robert ultimately must succumb to his wife's demands, thus keeping the facade of success to hide the failure within, as he has lost almost all that was dear to him: his family's respect, love and adoration.
Nicholas Jarecki's debut is a choppy start for the promising director. Not without its intriguing concepts "Arbitrage" falls foul to a plot overreach, where the failure is mostly on rampaging lack of focus. An enjoyable thriller does throw in several ideas and unlike most features ends on a high, which helps to gloss over inconsistencies within, most pronouncedly the case of det. Michael Bryer played by Tim Roth, who drops out of the picture without any closure.
The character of Robert is presented as a likable person, who acts questionably under duress, but ultimately has morality, albeit one with a drastically skewed logic. Unlike "Wall Street" the story doesn't delve into the despicable and manipulative world of financiers (albeit they do play some role, with a key scene at the end, where the mogul who purchased Robert's business meaningfully turns a blind eye to his accounting shenanigans). Instead it deals with the broken morality of the wealthy and the family context within which they function. Despite Richard's obvious guilt he deems it justified to avoid arrest in order to save his company, but does not feel overly guilt-ridden by involving an innocent ordinary Afroamerican into his affairs, thus possibly condemning him to prison. As Jimmy has an extreme sense of honour, he shows a stronger backbone than all others involved. Robert's wife for instance will not back down from blackmailing her husband in return for an alibi. Despite a somewhat cumbersome delivery of the story the conflicts of moral stances remains the most intriguing ingredient of the thriller. The somewhat predictable story offers certain twists are introduced by Jarecki to liven up proceedings, although simultaneously this does introduce too much distracting subplots.
The overall ending comes off as delightfully ambiguous, as Robert avoids prison, thus suggesting that the wealthy as destined to live through their own set of rules. This does not however mean that there is no blow-back, justice, as Robert ultimately must succumb to his wife's demands, thus keeping the facade of success to hide the failure within, as he has lost almost all that was dear to him: his family's respect, love and adoration.