User Reviews

I am neither a fan of Timberlake nor a fan of Batfleck, but I didn't hate them in this film. Acting is ok and the director did a smart thing and kept this movie short and with a good pace. Doesn't get boring and the story is ok especially if you are into gambling-style movies, but don't expect an intricate plot or smart twists. If you have seen all the other available films of this style/genre, then you can try this one and you will be entertained. 6/10 ok if no alternative.

Mindless entertainment, check.

Justin Timberlake being Justin Timberlake, check.

Ben Affleck being his same character from Boiler Room but with more blinking while delivering frat-boy douche lines, double check.

Hot girl standing around being hot, Check.

FBI agent way to young and random to be a believable yet cliché FBI agent, check.

Justin Timberlake not nearly getting his ass kicked enough in this film, inexcusable but CHECK.

5/10 yall

I get this movie maybe being a high 6 or low 7, but a 5.3?? That's just crazy! I loved most of what this movie offered. It had a great story line, in-depth characters, and a great setting. Honestly, I was just refreshed from having to see another sub-par superhero movie, but I digress. I really liked JT and Batfleck in this movie. Both of the characters had a lot of depth to them as well as some mystery. I'll give it to you that the ending was sort of predictable, but I didn't think that it made the movie any weaker.. I thought the Costa Rica and online gambling ideas that the movie was based on were really fresh, new, and something of worth. I also really enjoyed the corruption bits of it as well. The cast in this movie, I thought, did a really good job.. And every hole was filled pretty much. I don't know what else you really expect in a movie.

I was sorely tempted to write a single word review of Runner Runner: Pointless!

But I'll resist and expand slightly.

The trailer strongly suggests an intelligent, exciting thriller of crime and intrigue with A-list stars, action, drama, plenty of danger and a soupçon of violence. The realty of Runner Runner is somewhat blander.

Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) is a Princeton student with moderate financial worries, who supports himself through online gambling. When he risks everything (except the price of his airline ticket to Costa Rica, clearly) on a game and loses, he discovers he has been swindled and heads south to confront the man behind the poker company and scam, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Block is so impressed with Furst's balls that he offers him a job with eight-figure returns. With the chance to join the super rich, all the pleasures it encompasses and, predictably, a beautiful woman, Rebecca (Gemma Arterton), who equally predictably is Block's girlfriend, Furst's life couldn't be any better. Then FBI agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie) interferes.

The ingredients are there but it just doesn't work. The characters are half-written shadows of people about whom we don't care. There is no depth, detail or intrigue to inspire us to invest our attention and, though we try to second guess the plot and look for the twists and double crosses lurking in the background, it transpires there are none to speak of and what we see is the sum total of it.

Timberlake is on something of a downward trajectory after the superb The Social Network. Neither Bad Teacher nor Trouble with the Curve ignited and his turn in Runner Runner, though adequate, does nothing to persuade us he's an A-lister in Hollywoodland.

Affleck, however, was ridding high with the supreme success of Argo and the promise of more box office clout with the forthcoming Gone Girl and Batman vs. Superman. Runner Runner isn't going to damage his career but it certainly isn't going to boost it.

Meanwhile, there are times when Gemma Arterton frequently forgets to act (and can't pronounce Antigua) and Mackie is lumbered with a role that diminishes even the 'heights' of Pain and Gain.

Somebody really needs to shake director Brad Furman, turn him around and point him in the direction of a sequel to his fine The Lincoln Lawyer.

Runner Runner isn't a bad film. It's just a bland, boring, forgettable, dull thud with no echo.

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Apologies to the legions of other good reviewers who hated it, I didn't.

Found it entertaining, suspenseful, well filmed, and believable . . . just exactly the kind of mess young, daring and naive guys could get swept up in. Images were sharp and refreshing, the locations were fun and many gorgeous, while the acting was fine with me; however, I've never been an Affleck hater, and I'm willing to reconsider Timberlake, who did just fine in this.

What? You don't think the FBI would lean on a guy like this? I do.

Ease up folks, there is worse stuff out there to hammer on.

The 3*s I'm giving Runner Runner are for the location and the concept, this could have been a really great film but is completely let down by a incomplete script, poor direction, cinematography and wooden acting.

The Opening 10-15 minutes of the film should have been Timberlake's character back story leading to the point where we actually open. There is absolutely no chemistry between Timberlake and Arterton, Affleck proves once again how he's able to be out-acted by the most inanimate object on screen, and I saw the film less than an hour ago and have already forgotten everything the FBI agent did.

Due to the poor script you have a total lack of empathy for anyone, you actually don't really care if they live, die, go to prison or get away. My biggest concern was if it actually was Deadmau5 DJing at the Doctor Parnassus themed party or just some dude in a similar hat.

Also, the jargon used throughout the film means absolutely nothing to anyone with out a financial and IT background.

If you want to watch a good film about someone trying to pay for their university education watch 21!

Runner Runner is 100 minutes of entertainment starring and narrated by Justin Timberlake. From its beginnings at Princeton to the real action in Costa Rica, the movie had good support from venerable supporting actors John Heard and Bob Gunton. The computer pyrotechnics and Costa Rican locales and sexy girls at party scenes also lend to the general entertainment. Is it as derivative as 711 Ocean Drive meets Wall Street? You bet - nothing new here - but plenty to be entertained by. In reading other reviews, there seems to be a lot of criticism of Affleck's performance from people who don't care for him in general. I am neither lover nor hater but thought he nailed the Gordon-Gecko-of-online-gambling bigger-than-life Ivan Block, creating a memorable and menacing persona without ever being over-the-top.

Runner Runner is a story about a student(Richie played by Justin Timberlake) at University of Princeton who is a pro in gambling and makes money by signing players into online poker tournaments in order to pay his college fees. However, he is pushed to risk it all as the college dean warns him of termination if he continues to advocate gambling on campus and sets a deadline to pay his tuition fees.

Richie loses all his money in his attempt to hit a jackpot via an online poker tournament and discovers that he was swindled by the gaming corporation headed by Ivan (Ben Affleck) and he sets his foot in Costa Rica to lock horns with the gambling giant. Ivan recognizes the brilliance of Richie and gives him the life that he's been dreaming of. However, the tables turn when Richie finds the ulterior motive of Ivan's action and this is where the story falters. One expects a battle of wits to ensue but what follows is a series of lack lustre convincing acts by Ivan to make Richie remain in the trade.

The movie moves at a slow pace and what hurts the movie most is you expect Richie's character to be more shrewd and to be a few steps ahead of Ivan but that doesn't happen till the end.With Agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie)and Croning (Anthony Cooper) bringing in a few laughs here and there the movie rather ends well. The fresh locales of Costa Rica were captured brilliantly.

You are not missing anything if u fail to watch this movie but if u want to catch a glimpse of Costa Rica..

Right, well I must admit that I had already formed an opinion about this movie prior to having seen it. Why? How? Well, simply because of the lead cast being Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

And now having seen it, I have to admit that I am more than genuinely surprised at how entertaining the movie was, thanks to director Brad Furman, but also because of Affleck and Timberlake actually performing quite well. I will actually go as far as admitting that this was the best performance I have ever seen from Ben Affleck. That says a lot actually, because I usually stay well clear of his movies.

The story in "Runner Runner" is about Richie (played by Timberlake) who loses 17.000 dollars on an online gambling site, and finds out that he was cheated. So he goes to Costa Rica to inform the owner of the site, gambling mogul Ivan Block (played by Affleck). Offering Richie a job with money and a luxurious lifestyle, Ivan soon have him working in his gambling dynasty, but all is not well beneath the golden surface.

Story-wise "Runner Runner" is entertaining, although the story hardly seems plausible in any way. But hey, it is the movies after all. What makes this movie work was primarily the acting of Affleck and Timberlake.

A predictable story, yes. But the movie is well-worth watching nonetheless. Just a shame that the movie didn't offer any twists and turns, nor does it really challenge the intellect of the audience.

Not as intelligent as it thinks it is.

This would be true if the films producers intended to create something intelligent, but Runner Runner is textbook sex-money-thriller, with a spot of online gambling thrown in to keep it relevant, and nobody involved with its production thinks it's intelligent.

The film stars Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck, who have to make money somehow I suppose, but the best line in the film is reserved for token-black-FBI agent, played unremarkably by Anthony Mackie.

"That's what you say to someone who is stupid. Do you think I'm stupid."

Hey, you read my mind. Whoever wrote this script definitely thinks we're stupid.

The film's female characters deserve attention, not for their acting but the way they're shamelessly draped across every scene, like a bikini stretched over a pair of perky, artificially enhanced tits, just to remind everyone watching it's a man's world at the top.

Runner Runner falls into the rapidly growing category of post-GFC films attempting to relate to the millions of Americans left unemployed and out on their ass because Lehman Brothers went all in with their savings and lost, yet it does nothing but rehash the embarrassingly outdated idea that anyone with a few brains and determination can 'make it in America'.

That Hollywood can still serve up this undercooked, horse-sh*t film and call it a 'smart, sexy thriller' makes me want to crash my car off a bridge.

'Making it' in this economy is hard enough without wasting any of your time on this worthless mind slop. Save your money, Runner Runner is a losing bet.

Movies are like wine and there are two types; really good ones that you savour and ones you watch just to get drunk (or lost in the fantasy). This movie is the second variety. It won't win any Oscars but it is fun, fast-paced and not a bad way to spend the afternoon. The story centres on Richard First (Justin Timberlake) a college student who pays his way by soliciting other student for online gambling. Furst is smart and confident but he gets in overhead his head when he tosses in College life to team up with Ivan Block (Ben Afflick), an online gambling entrepreneur. A lot of the action is set in Coast Rica and the movie is beautifully filmed. It is also fast paced, action packed and includes a little bit of a romance. There may be some small holes in the plot and a lack of chemistry between the two male leads but apart from that, (if you are not too critical), you will enjoy this wild ride of a movie. Be aware: it may turn you off online gambling forever.

The world of gambling, particularly over Internet, is a rather secretive and egoistic one, not many are eager to share their wins (and many more - their losses). Runner Runner lets us peep into this in an intriguing manner, creating an international scam story where evil is not limited to mind and rip-off only... True, there are lots of clichés (incl. the presence of beautiful femme fatale, poverty and crime in Latin America) and use of sophisticated hi-tech terms and flashing technology, but decent performances by Justin Timberlake as Richie Furst and Ben Affleck as Ivan Block, and the length of less than 1,5 hours do not let the movie become annoying. You will see lots of wealth, hopes, betrayal, activities at all costs, and the saying "beautiful life is often brief" holds true here as well. It could apparently also be a warning movie for young IT masterminds.

You know it's a good sign when the title has nothing to do with the movie.

Here's a film that begins one way but winds up being something else entirely.

Justin Timberlake plays a Princeton student paying his way through tuition costs by playing online poker, one day he loses big and finds out later he was cheated. He then heads out to Costa Rica to confront the owner of the website (Ben Affleck), but soon winds up in his employ.

When the movie begins it plays out very much like The Social Network, everyone is talking fast, there's a thumping electronic score and there's lots of impossible to follow jargon being tossed around. But once we get to Costa Rica it turns into one of those crime movies where you have the good intentioned innocent guy being pulled into the underbelly by the charming criminal.

The movie is boring, deathly boring.

The whole time you find yourself listening to bland, completely uninspired dialogue that exists only to get straight to the point to keep the movie flowing. With one of the most banal generic plots you could possibly fathom. You find yourself as a viewer one step ahead of all the characters in the film because it's a movie that's been made a million times before, there is not a single unique surprise in the entire thing.

The entire film trundles along with scene after scene of boring lazy dialogue, obvious foreshadowing and almost no action scenes.

Plus the film just looks cheap, characters who live in these huge extravagant, completely senseless homes will walk into some dingy room to talk for ten minutes. The direction and photography is completely dead, there is not a single creative flair to heighten the feel of the picture.

Justin Timberlake was excellent in The Social Network, but he hasn't shined in anything since. He's not bad in this movie, but it's not a performance that could pass as anything better than serviceable. Gemma Arterton does absolutely nothing but stand around looking pretty, plus she and Timberlake has absolutely no chemistry making the romance between them feel completely awkward. Anthony Mackie is completely wasted in this, he may have the only funny moments in the movie, but his scenes are completely perfunctory.

But God-bless Ben Affleck, who seems to know what a miserable pile of dreck he's in, and seems to be the only one having any fun. It's a performance that's so completely beneath him and he's definitely phoning it in, but his character is so deliciously wicked that it's hard not to love him and every scene he's in completely energises the movie. I can't exactly explain what happened but at some point in the third act the character became some kind of super villain that you would only see in the craziest James Bond movies.

Save for Affleck (and a weird cameo by Deadmau5), it's just an incredibly generic and forgettable affair that isn't even worth watching at home, this is the kind of movie that's best left forgotten.

Also it's pronounced AN-TEE-GAH not AN-TI-GUAR.

The story itself is very well known to the majority of people .The quality of production is bad compared to other movies . I'll give it 6/10.I would recommend adding more people that can act better to this story .More actions can be added . More than that it can be performed in a better way so that it can include more actions scenes , more excitement and extra hot scene that can attract the viewers to the story . Moreover , the story of the movie is not as strong as it should be .For example , when you talk about gambling and what people do to collect money for studying .He cloud give a parallel example to gambling like adding some theft scenes . The police control over all these situations and many more .

Dear oh dear oh dear. The saying "Don't give up your day job" could never be more true regarding a certain someones performance. Over the past 7 years now, Justin Timberlake has become progressively prominent in films. Why? Well because he's a big star....in music that is. So (according to some deluded people) that must mean he must be able to act....no it doesn't. He is a terrible actor; every single thing he does is horrifically unconvincing. He could even be in a film where he plays a popstar and i still wouldn't believe it. His smiles are smothered in falseness, his delivery is diabolical, his expressions are excruciating to watch. There are no redeeming features to his "acting". What makes a great actor is someone who makes you believe they truly are the person they are portraying. Timberlake is seemingly incapable of that.

He seems to get plaudits for "The Social Network", but the only reason he does is because he is in fact an attention seeking, irritating dweeb. Every chat show he over compensates and that follows him in films where he overacts. And just like in "In Time" his acting drains any chance of potential for this film.

People may argue that it wasn't his fault the film was terrible, and yes the film was rather dull as a whole, but it does not excuse his obvious inability to act. And in my opinion it was his fault i couldn't enjoy it. There are scenes in the movie where you can't help but associate Richie (Timberlake) with people from other films....horrible versions of course. When he's acting like the whiz kid of poker; tediously explaining the way to win, you just have to look back to Edward Norton or Matt Damon in "Rounders" and it really shows how bad he is. When he's strolling around the casino with the most irritating of faces, you flash back to Robert De Niro in "Casino" and it really couldn't be anymore blatant that Timberlake is completely out of sync when it comes to acting.

Ben Affleck and Anthony Mackie where average, but they didn't have much chance in such a dense film. I really am struggling to add positivity, but it's difficult, it was just monotonous. erm..... just Timberlake's attempt at an angry face making me chuckle... that's about it.

This film tells the life of a bright physics student after he gets recruited to work for an online gambling site in Costa Rica.

"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.

Greetings again from the darkness. I can sit in a theater and watch a mediocre movie, but when it comes time to write about it, there is no motivation or appeal. The most positive comment I can make is that it stars two very pretty men.

This one has "paycheck project" written all over it. Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake simply go through the motions as if someone is feeding them their lines through an ear piece. Gemma Arterton should never stoop to such a mundane and lifeless role ... though her hair and make-up are terrific. Only John Heard and Anthony Mackie come across as professional actors, and their minor roles are so limited, they barely register.

Writing partners Brian Koppelman and David Levien co-wrote the excellent Rounders, but this one merely teases the dark underbelly of online gambling. It has neither the depth, plot or character development that we would expect from a movie with this premise and cast. Director Brad Furman showed promise with The Lincoln Lawyer, but this one comes across as being rushed through production with faux-style.

The closest comparison I can come up with is last year's Savages, directed by Oliver Stone ... and even that one was more enjoyable. Rather than a MPAA warning for Language, I would prefer a heads-up whenever the filmmaking team really doesn't care much for the project. At least I could spend my money and time watching a different movie.

This movie is as real as the headlines we read. In past centuries gamblers would sail into the unknown on ships gambling with their lives, explore new territories, start wars, take extraordinary financial risks starting new industries ... and gamble at cards, dice, and anything else where odds and probability are involved.

The implicit relationships between university graduates, wall street, economic bets, the ups and downs of online gambling, poker, Ponzi schemes and corrupt governments are real.

This movie was a fictional, largely accurate and very entertaining portrayal of the on-line gambling industry ... a wild, wholly and unregulated billion dollar industry. The acting was good, the glitz entertaining and kept my interest from the opening scenes to its end.

What more can you want from a movie?

This movie was fun, entertaining and interesting so for me it ticks all the boxes.

The film is far better than its average ratings score. The acting was enjoyable, the plot workable, the settings and the feel of the film all work. Ok its not Goodfellas but it is a good movie.

Affleck seems to get a bad rap with a lot of his movies and for most of them (minus Gigi) I would disagree, he is an enjoyable actor and so is Timberlake.

The only complaint, not enough screen time for Gemma :(

Otherwise great viewing!!

Ben Affleck has made three great films in the last few years, all of them starring and directed by the man himself. It's rather puzzling therefore - after 'Gone Baby Gone', 'The Town' and 'Argo' - what Affleck saw in Brian Koppelman and David Levien's script or in director Brad Furman to commit to star in this by-the-numbers thriller that arguably adds little to the cred he's built up so far. Indeed, it's an odd choice for a multi-hyphenate at a critical turning point in his career when pretty much everyone in Tinseltown was prepared to cast him as a has- been.

In spite of this, Affleck and his co-star Justin Timberlake are about the best things that 'Runner Runner' has going for it. The title here refers to a card that either completes a hand or significantly improves one, which is what Affleck's gambling magnate Ivan Block sees in Timberlake's Princeton maths whizz Richie Furst at least at the start. But really, fancy titles aside, this is no more than yet another cautionary tale about a young, ambitious up-and-comer who gets way over his head when he is lured into a world of crime and corruption by a smooth-talking, charismatic criminal.

Set against the backdrop of the online poker industry, Furman tries to spin a sleek fast-paced number using the sun-drenched locations in Puerto Rico to stand in for Costa Rica. Just as Block lures Furst into his world of riches, the director best known for his work on the Matthew McConaughey thriller 'The Lincoln Lawyer' stuffs the screen with lavish digs, fancy cars, cool boats, private jets and stylish beach parties in the hopes of pulling a fast shimmery one on his audience. To his credit, all that glamour does succeed to mask the movie's flaws during its brisk setup.

And yet as soon as Furst's giddy ascent into the shady world of Block's business is complete, what ensues is pretty much a downhill journey. There's absolutely no surprise that an overachieving FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) will turn up to enlist Furst in order to take down Block, or for that matter the fact that said agent is willing to risk even Furst's life in the process. Neither is it any less predictable that Furst will fall in love with Block's right-hand woman Rebecca (Gemma Arterton), further aggravating the animosity between mentor and protégé.

But perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the plot lies in how simplistic Furst's plan to demolish Block's criminal empire turns out to be, an utterly predictable chain of events that only serves to cast aspersions on Block's own intelligence in the first place. Just like 'Lawyer', Furman employs a whole lot of snazzy camera techniques to distract his viewer from the plot failings, but even the casual viewer is likely to find the denouement underwhelming. In fact, the same can be said of the entire slicked up movie, which quickly runs out of any smart moves once you see through its bluff.

That is, even as Timberlake tries his darnest to inject the same kind of smarminess of 'The Social Network' into his character. The boyishly charming actor exudes enough wide-eyed naivety at the start to convincingly gear-shift into desperation as things go awry, but it is a clichéd role that does him no favours. On the other hand, Affleck underplays his character's villainy, and though some may find his performance too nonchalant, it is nicely calibrated to surprise when he reveals a dastardly evil hand.

Yet this is a movie that hardly deserves such subtleties, since just about everything is ostentatious to a fault. To Furman's credit, he does what he can with a tepid script to draw in and retain his audience's attention, but there is so much he, or for that matter his stars Timberlake and Affleck, can accomplish. So entirely forgettable it almost ceases to matter, 'Runner Runner' is ultimately a 'Loser Loser'.