The overriding problem with the direction by Brad Furman ( The Lincoln Lawyer, The Take) is that it lacks a real pulse, a throb of excitement that pulls you into this unsavory world and will accept no resistance. But Ivan has a little unpleasantness of his own in store for his eager acolyte, as he forces him to blackmail a top client into a continued business relationship, then starts using him as a bagman to pay off local authorities who are becoming rather less enchanted with this foreigner who’s introducing an unwanted criminal element into their society. When Richie tells his boss what happened, Ivan waves it off, claiming it happens to everyone who works for him. PHOTOS: From George Clooney to Justin Timberlake: Celebrities With Tequila Labels All goes swimmingly until, a third of the way in, Richie is kidnapped by none other than the FBI, whose local agent Shavers ( Anthony Mackie) tries to coerce the kid into informing on Ivan’s business. With the help of a couple of other Yankee college boys who are given no character dimension whatsoever, Richie quickly learns the ropes and gets mixed signals from Ivan’s glamorous factotum Rebecca ( Gemma Arterton), who may or may not be on exclusive reserve for the boss. With Puerto Rican locations doubling for Costa Rica, the allure of Ivan’s world looks pretty tacky no matter how doused in money it is. Seven, maybe even eight figures a year beckon. But, then again, Ivan can always use a smart, ballsy guy in his operation, so maybe Richie would like to come work for him. In the film’s best-written scene, the older man affably agrees to reimburse the kid for his losses and then some. Lounging on his hero’s yacht, Richie brazenly accuses his relaxed host of cheating him on his site … and Ivan readily admits it. Threatened with expulsion from Princeton unless he shuts down his online gambling site, finance grad student Richie Furst (Timberlake), with nothing now to lose, heads for Costa Rica determined to stick it to the undisputed king of computer gambling, Ivan Black (Affleck).Īrriving during the boss’s annual blowout, the Midnight Black Expo, Richie cleverly scores an audience with the bodyguard-festooned Ivan. The opening of the script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien ( Solitary Man, The Girlfriend Experience, Oceans 13) combines with Timberlake’s presence to suggest a somewhat less exceptional variation on The Social Network‘s focus on maverick entrepreneurialism in the Ivy League.
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