Runner Runner: To Watch or Not to Watch?

Daniella Cuencas ’16/Emertainment Monthly Editor
The upcoming movie Runner, Runner starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck doesn’t hit theaters until September 27th, but the recent release of its first theatrical trailer has been creating a lot of buzz online. The film follows a Princeton grad student (Justin Timberlake) who is cheated out of his tuition money. He then flies to Costa Rica to get his money back. Instead, he falls in league with the site’s owner (Ben Affleck) and is intrigued by all the wealth Affleck offers him. Soon enough, it turns out the FBI is looking for this man, and now Timberlake has to deal with the federal government and his boss.
Justin Timberlake is awesome. His music is great and his SNL skits are pretty funny considering he has hosted the show five times. Unfortunately, after watching the trailer, it seems as though this might not be one of Timberlake’s shining moments. His role as a grad student math genius seems hard to accept. I was not convinced in the two-minute trailer that Timberlake was anyone but himself. Believability seems like it is going to be a big issue in this movie. Even Ben Affleck, who usually plays the all American boy, did not do himself justice as an actor in this movie. His bad mafia style image was not as convincing as it could have been.
But it is possible that Justin and Ben are not the ones to blame here. It looks like it could be the plot of the movie that may set this movie up to fail. The idea of a grad student who doesn’t have enough money to pay tuition, but enough to go to Costa Rica seems like a stretch. Moreover, the general idea seems a bit too formulaic. Innocent guy gets roped into an evil scheme- this has been the same plot as other gambling movies like 21. The plot seems typical and uninventive.
All in all, I’m hoping for the best with this film, but more than likely it won’t be a big hit. This movie will probably turn out to be something amusing to rent on a boring Friday night.
Check out the trailer below and tell us your thoughts:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFPqyNvNzvU&w=560&h=315]