Across the United States today, the movie Runner Runner is set to premiere in theaters. In early reviews and predicted box office take, the movie – from Rounders writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien – has taken some hits, however.
Long anticipated by the poker community, Runner Runner is the story of Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake), a brilliant mathematics grad student who, while trying to drum up funds to pay for his education, enters the online poker world. Furst goes on to lose everything he has, but he believes that he has been scammed by the site. Somehow Furst comes up with enough money to head to Costa Rica, where the online poker site is located, to confront the owner, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck).
Once in Costa Rica, Furst does meet with Block who offers him a deal: the money he lost on the site (and the return to the doldrums of college) or a job in his organization (with its tropical location, swank parties and a bevy of beautiful women). With the dollar signs dancing in his head (and Gemma Arterton hovering on the horizon), Furst takes on the job. After the full drama of Block’s operation is revealed to Furst (murder, stealing money from players, Block’s own blackmail of Furst with his gambler father’s debts), he eventually gets involved (and Arterton also?) with the FBI, who look to use Furst to take down Block’s operation, which they view as illegal.
The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday called Runner Runner, “A dreary, perfunctory amorality tale that isn’t ashamed to sneak in admiring winks at the world it pretends to scorn,” and goes on to say that “when it comes to this movie and the other direction, run run – don’t walk walk.” The New York Times’ A. O. Scott says that stars Affleck and Timberlake “face off…in a battle for…well, what, exactly?” Scott goes on to state about Arterton, who is supposed to be one of the focal points of battle between Affleck and Timberlake for her affections, “(Arterton) plays virtually the only female character in the movie not employed as a hooker or a stripper” and finishes his review by saying, “The premise of Runner Runner seems a little dated, since the poker craze peaked around 2006 and operations like Ivan’s were shut down in 2011. The deeper problem is that (the movie) feels like a halfhearted bluff and has the stale smell of yesterday’s after-shave.”
When it comes to the potential “box office” take for the film this weekend (first week releases normally have their best showings in their first weekend of release), Runner Runner has some problems to overcome also. The stunning 3D film Gravity, with Oscar winners George Clooney and Sandra Bullock about two astronauts stranded in space following an accident, is projected to crush all competition over the weekend, according to BoxOfficeFrontier.com. Gravity is projected by the site to take home $39.8 million (although they state it could be as high as $50 million), while Runner Runner is slotted in the third place slot for the weekend with $15 million, behind last weekend’s big winner Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (this weekend, Cloudy is expected to rack up $25.6 million in ticket revenues).
Other films that may take away some of the action from Runner Runner are the Ron Howard Formula 1 movie Rush, the R-rated comedy Don Jon and the new Metallica IMAX concert film/action movie Through the Never.
Overall, the poker world seems to still be behind the film. The American Gambling Association has decided to use the film (without cooperation from the writers or its distribution company, 20th Century Fox) as a method of motivation to the public for online gaming regulation through advertising. That move has been denounced by some as, although the film has been advertised as “based on true accounts,” there is a tremendous amount of dramatic license that has been taken with the film.
At the end of this weekend, the movie viewing public will issue their decision on Runner Runner. Will it be a success or will it be overlooked as a piece that focuses on a small segment of the population? Perhaps the best bet for Runner Runner may be in Koppelman and Levien’s piece de resistance that was Rounders. In its first weekend, it only grossed $8.5 million (going on to take in $22.9 million) but eventually became a cult classic and a film that inspired many to take up the game of poker.
