Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Princeton grad student Richie Furst (a solid and likeable performance by Justin Timberlake) loses a ton of cash in a rigged online poker game. Furst goes to Costa Rica to confront slick and corrupt gambling tycoon Ivan Block (zestfully played to the slimy hilt by Ben Affleck), who Furst believes swindled him out of his money. However, Block finds himself seduced by Block's lavish lifestyle. While director Brad Furman keeps the reasonably enjoyable story moving along at a brisk pace and brings a dazzling glittery style to the proceedings, this film alas fails to generate much in the way of essential tension due to the grinding predictability of the script by David Levien and Brian Koppelman: It's pretty obvious from the get go that Furst is getting played for a sucker by Block and hence will ultimately roll over to help the feds bring Block down. Fortunately, the sturdy cast keeps this film watchable: Anthony Mackie as hard-nosed FBI agent Shavers, Oliver Cooper as nerdy computer wonk Andrew Cronin, John Heard as Furst's deadbeat dad Harry, and Yul Vasquez as the vicious Herrera. However, Gemma Arterton in the thankless token hot babe role is given precious little to do outside of stand on the sidelines and look foxy. Both Mauro Fiore's glossy widescreen cinematography and Christophe Beck's pulsating score are up to par. A passable diversion.

Runner Runner is a mediocre movie with a lackluster storyline and a mostly talented, wasted cast. The set up is good and the opening is certainly the best part, as we see Justin Timberlake's character putting his casino skills to the test, as well as an interesting turn from Ben Affleck as the antagonist. However, Affleck is very underused, his screen time is limited and we never get to see him truly become the character as a result of poor writing, he is never seen at the forefront of his organisation. As well as that, the plot wears thin very early on, it starts off promising, but it soon becomes clear that this movie was made for a few bucks, it did not want to take any risks, or be original whatsoever. Though it has its moments, Runner Runner is a forgetful ninety minutes that you would be better off skipping. A finance whiz kid goes in to a league with a gambling mogul, but soon finds out his boss is not all he seems. Best Performance: Ben Affleck Worst Performance: Gemma Arterton

If Justin Timberlake's name was shown at the beginning of this film, I didn't see it. I spent the whole movie impressed by how much this actor looked like him.Timberlake stars with Ben Affleck and John Heard in "Runner Runner" about Richie (Timberlake), a Princeton grad student who is gambling online and signing up other students to do it as well. He's taken to task by the chancellor (Bob Gunton). Richie decides to bet what money he has in an online poker game. He loses everything. When he studies the poker program a little bit more and does averages, etc., with a friend, he realizes he's been cheated.He then travels to Costa Rica to confront the tycoon responsible for these sites, one Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Richie believes Block would want to know about this since it is cheating customers.Block explains to him that some of his programmers turned out to be unethical, apologizes, comps his room, and credits his gambling account with the money he lost.Block winds up offering Richie a job rather than returning to school, and Richie, seeing the money he could make, stays on. As time goes on, he finds out that Block is a ruthless swindler who will do anything to get his way.The FBI approaches Richie for help gathering evidence about Block and initially, he rebuffs them. The web then becomes more tangled; when Richie tries to leave Costa Rica for home, he is stopped. Block then buys Richie's father's (John Heard) $187,000 gambling debt to keep Richie where he wants him. Block owns everything and everybody. How is he going to get out of this mess? This movie could have been a lot better than it was, but it falls flat. Richie is the main character, and he and his father are both idiots. I think they were supposed to be likable, so right away we're in trouble. It was very hard to connect with these characters making so many obvious mistakes.The acting was so-so. I can't agree about Ben Affleck being horrible. He comes off as a real nice guy, and that's just what sleazes do - otherwise, they couldn't rope anyone in. He's relaxed, he has a smile on his face, he offers you the world, when in truth, he's taking you for a big fool. Someone like Al Pacino or Andy Garcia, who look like tough guys, would have been wrong choices.This is really not worth seeing. Maybe as a rental, that's about it.

Richie is a student who's having trouble paying his tuition.He helps other students who want to gamble online, but for a small fee. When he gambles online himself, he loses but believes he was cheated.He goes to Costa Rica, where the site is generated from, and shows the owner, Ivan Block, proof that he was cheated.Block then offers him a job which he takes, and begins to learn how he does business. But the FBI want to nail Block, and intimidate Richie to help them......The structure for films like this are as old as the hills.Good guy confronts a high powered businessman, said man offers big money, there's always a good looking girl involved, cops close in, businessman tries to frame good guy, and so on.When you watch this film, you could be forgiven with thinking that the makers have completely ripped off Wall Street, because the narrative flows in the same way that movie did, Guy thinks he's made it, but his world comes slowly crashing.Even the dad's get involved in both movies.To criticise this movie would be too easy, it's been done hundreds of times before, much better, but for a piece of fluff movie, with nice locations, and good looking people, you could do a lot worse.Timberlake isn't the best actor in the world, but he can hold his own, and he has decent chemistry with Arterton, who is really just there as a plot point to get Richie and Ivan in some sort of subliminal feud.If you thought Affleck was great in movies such as Paycheck (which he obviously did this movie for), Gigli, and Deception, you've got him back here.He's phoning it in, and you know he just took the part for the money, and the holiday.Mackie is the best thing here, bringing a little tension and humour to a stale narrative.It's a dud, for sure, but it's a guilty pleasure.Take a gamble.