Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 4th October, 2013
Time : 91 minutes
Director : Brad Furman; Writers : Brian Koppelman, David Levien; Music : Christophe Beck
Starring : Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie, Yul Vasquez, Christian George, Michael Esper, Oliver Cooper, John Heard
When things are too good to be true…
Justin, studying for his Princeton Masters, is a maths whiz and successful Wall-Street broker who lost his money in the bust. His tuition fee is in jeopardy so he does what most sane blokes do, gambles it all on an online gaming site. And loses. Realizes he’s been cheated so does what most sane guys do – not complain on internet forums but flies to Costa Rica to seek out the owner of the gambling site, Ben Affleck. As luck would have it, he even manages to meet the billionaire. And starts working for him. And realizes there’s more to things than meet the eye…including the gorgeous Gemma, who works for Ben…
There are two problems with the film – it doesn’t make sense and its too pat / too simple / too predictable – the events of the second half would have even lower odds than, to use a quote from the film, someone getting a flush in a game of Texas Hold-Em. You keep watching just because it moves along at a nice pace and is populated by good-looking people who act decently (not great but good enough to keep you interested). The locales are nice…Costa Rica with its bars, beaches and brothels…
The end especially doesn’t work at all (in terms of logic) but then you would be fair to point out most movie watchers should’ve abandoned logic shortly into the film…the makers try just too hard to give us a happy ending, even when a lot of what they make the characters do doesn’t make sense…
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