This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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

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

Money. Exotic locales. Money. Sex. Money. What's not to like? Not only are those things part of the appeal of "Runner Runner" (R, 1:31), but they're also what tempt the lead character into a situation that eventually threatens to deprive him of everything he's working for.Justin Timberlake plays Richie Furst, a brilliant student in a master's mathematics program at Princeton. When his attempts to fund his education through online poker backfire, he gets desperate. Now, Richie isn't just your average gambler. He knows poker, and gambling runs in his family, as we understand when we meet Richie's father (John Heard). Richie uses his knowledge of gambling, mathematics and computers to gather proof that he was cheated. He flies to Costa Rica to confront the man behind the poker website in question – Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), an American entrepreneur who may or may not be a legitimate businessman.Their encounter leads Ivan to hire Richie to help him run his website. Richie's good at it and it's a shortcut to everything he hoped his Ivy League education would bring him. Meanwhile, a relationship develops between Richie and Ivan's former lover, Rebecca (Gemma Arterton). Things are going swimmingly for Richie until Anthony Mackie's FBI Agent Shavers steps in and tries to threaten Richie into turning against his employer. Will he or won't he? Which of these characters are the criminals and which are just doing their jobs? The answers eventually reveal each character's true allegiances, just as Richie seems hopelessly boxed in on all sides.This is an above-average thriller that keeps you guessing. Justin Timberlake has legitimate acting chops and it was fun to see Ben Affleck take on such a morally ambiguous character, and nice to see that he didn't overplay his hand. This movie is part "Ocean's 11" and part "The Firm", but still manages to feel original. The twists and turns are many, but allow the audience to keep up and enjoy getting the answers to those questions I mentioned earlier. "Runner Runner" isn't what I would call brilliant, but it's reasonably well-constructed and pretty entertaining. "B"

Runner Runner is a tired formula, but since it's a formula that I usually like, I gave the movie a watch.While it mostly held my interest, there was no getting around the fact that this movie is tired and played out. Once you get past the marquee cast and the stylized direction you realize that the script is fundamentally unoriginal and that you have already seen this story done better in films like Wall Street, Boiler Room, 21 and Rounders.The "aspiring and smart young hustler gets discovered by a charismatic mentor who he later becomes disillusioned with and betrays to save his a**" story line is so familiar at this point that it's probably ready for a Jim Abrahams type parody.Ben Affleck's "Ivan Block" is so reminiscent of his Jim Young character from Boiler Room that it is easy to imagine Block is actually just Jim Young 13 years later after getting out of prison and changing his name, becoming a bit more sophisticated with age and finding a new and even better way to get rich by scamming suckers.Despite Justin Timberlake's obvious charm and talent, he has yet to really register as a significant presence on the big screen and this is another forgettable role for him. It's not that his performance is bad, it isn't, but it feels entirely interchangeable with just about any other young actor- Timberlake puts no personal stamp on the part.Gemma Arterton also fades into the background of the picture which is telling. When I first saw Arteron in a fairly small role in Quantum of Solace, her screen presence was hard to take your eyes off of. It is a testament then to the blandness of her character's development in Runner Runner that she too feels like an interchangeable cliché.When I read that Brad Furman had directed Runner Runner, it made sense why I found the film stylistically appealing in terms of pacing, visuals, sets, photography and even performances. Furman also directed one of my recent favorites: The Lincoln Lawyer, an equally stylish but vastly superior film in terms of story line and character development.That Runner Runner feels a lot like the poker movie Rounders is explained by the fact that both movies had the same screenwriters. Unfortunately, the technique of having the sharp-witted protagonist narrate poker strategy as a metaphor for the movie action just feels redundant in this film.As a viewer who tends to look for some degree of verisimilitude regarding law enforcement in these kind of crime thrillers, Runner Runner continues the tradition of Hollywood never portraying an FBI agent in a manner that feels remotely believable. In real life, FBI agents are not likely to be edgy eccentrics or burn outs. They tend to be Type-A high-achievers ambitious to succeed in a large bureaucratic organization. Anthony Mackie's Agent Shavers joins other depictions of movie G-Men who feel in no way authentic. Again, it's not the actor's fault, it's just a poorly written and developed character.In short: the big name cast and stylistic direction can't overcome the tired story and weak script. If you like the formula that has been done better in Wall Street, Goodfellas, Rounders, Boiler Room, 21, Wolf of Wall Street, etc than you may enjoy investing 90 minutes in this film. But I'd suggest only doing so when it when it comes on cable and not going out of your way to see 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.