Running Scared

Remember a few weeks ago, when Ben Affleck was named as the new Bruce Wayne in the upcoming Batman vs Superman? How half the fanboys on planet Earth convulsed in unison and proclaimed that it was the worst casting choice in existence, referencing decade-old schlock fests Gigli and Daredevil as proof? Well, Runner Runner just did its best to prove those internet doubters correct. Despite taking one of Hollywood's most improved actors - along with Affleck's directorial credits for The Town and Argo - and teaming him up with an already-impressive feature director (The Lincoln Lawyer's Brad Furman), the result ought to have been something special. So why does this film have the reek of disappointment from beginning to end?

Desperate to succeed at Princeton, Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) attempts to make up the difference between his life savings and what school will actually cost by gambling online, using his talents at math and probability to excel in the early goings. But when faceless cheats hack the software and rob him electronically, he embarks on a journey to Costa Rica, where he plans to confront the gambling web site's mogul Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) about the burglary. Ivan assures Richie that the theft was due to rogue programmers who had written a backdoor into the system for their own gains, and not only does he reimburse Richie his losses, but offers Princeton's star pupil a spot in his organization. Looking to rebound from old failures, Richie accepts, but the more he learns about Ivan Block and his less-than-ethical business practices, the less sure he is that he should stick around for the long term.

It was just the beginning... of the end.

As I mentioned before, under the tutelage of Furman, Runner Runner should have been much, MUCH better than the shrug-inducing "thriller" we were delivered. So what went wrong? Well, while the story does involve some unique aspects - most notably online poker and the exotic Costa Rican setting - very little is actually done with those items beyond background noise. As a result we get a run-of-the-mill suspense film, disappointing as the screenplay came from Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the duo behind crime thrillers Rounders, Runaway Jury and Oceans Thirteen. It's also a shocker for Furman, whose excessive editing and lack of balanced storytelling keeps the plot from being as engaging as it could have possibly been.

If this man is your star, you've got serious problems.

But the biggest problems for Runner Runner (besides the fact that hardly anybody would realize the meaning of the title) are easily on the casting front. The fact of the matter is, nobody should be handing leading man jobs to Justin Timberlake. The former 'N Sync frontman does have some talent as a performer thanks to his natural charisma, but with a lack of any other acting skills, he's better suited to supporting roles (like his part in The Social Network), where he doesn't have to be ON 100% of the time. Even getting past the part where he doesn't look nearly young enough to pass for a college student (not even the grad school student the film tries to say he is) is the excessive gesturing and facial expressions he expresses that a good movie actor does his best to tone down; Timberlake meanwhile shows more frenetic energy than Shia LeBoeuf on caffeine. Others come off slightly better; despite what could have been an over-the-top farce, Affleck does a good enough job in the antagonist role to sort-of make up for Timberlake's mistakes. As acting jobs go, tt's still a step down from his more recent roles, but that may have more to do with the material Affleck was given, and not an actual dip in his talent. The side characters range from cliched to ridiculous, however, with most of Gemma Arterton's pay going towards tanning lotion, and Anthony Mackie frustrating as he continues to play one-note characters after his 2009 breakout The Hurt Locker. Weak dialogue doesn't help any of them, and at least energy is put into their performances, but rarely this year has such a potentially-strong cast been misused so badly and to such detriment to the movie.

So THAT'S how Bruce Wayne made his billions!

So yes, Runner Runner is a poorly-named, terribly-paced disappointment. You could go in for a brainless diversion, I suppose, but there are already more than enough alternatives in theaters that are a lot better in execution than Furman's film could hope to have achieved. Go see Don Jon. Go see Riddick. DEFINITELY go see Gravity. Heck, go see Machete Kills (review forthcoming) if you're so inclined. But there's really no reason to waste your time here. It's just not worth the time, and the Batman of the future deserved better.

Open Letters Monthly: Argo

Ben Affleck has become a renowned Hollywood director thanks to contributions from his hometown, specifically the Boston-based crime dramas Gone Baby Gone and The Town. But while Boston has done a lot for Affleck, he needed to take a step away from the overly familiar backdrop and tackle something completely out of his comfort zone.

Enter Argo, a very real Hollywood film about a very fake Hollywood sci-fi flick that entered production as a CIA cover story. At the height of the Iran hostage crisis, six American diplomats manage to escape the hostile takeover of the American embassy and find shelter at the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. While they are temporarily safe, there seems to be no way to smuggle them out out of the country to safety, and the Iranian students are quickly becoming aware that they have not captured every diplomat in the country. It's up to one CIA specialist to convince an entire country that the six people are a Canadian film crew, and get them on a plane out of there.

Argo is directed by Ben Affleck and stars Affleck, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina, Victor Garber, Clea DuVall, Tate Donovan and Scoot McNairy.

Click here for the full review at Open Letters Monthly.

Hometown Team

Ben Affleck might have finally discovered his calling. In recent years, Boston has become a haven for crime movies, from 2003's Mystic River to 2006's The Departed to little-seen 2008's What Doesn't Kill You, Hollywood seems to have become entranced by Boston's criminal history and the kinds of stories that affords. Affleck even got in on the act, making his directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone, overseeing a stellar cast including Amy Ryan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, and little brother Casey Affleck. As director, Affleck drew on his experiences growing up in Boston to tell the story to the best of his ability, using the same instincts that made him such a star in the first place. Just the latest part of his Hollywood reboot after failing for so many years to be taken seriously by movie audiences, it's almost as though retreating to his roots is what finally saved his career.

Don't look don't look don't look, aw crap

When I first saw the trailer for The Town I was spellbound, my mind still processing what it had seen through my eyes. Not only was the film based in my home city, but in areas I was actually familiar with, as filming had taken place mere minutes from my apartment. On top of that, the film looked AMAZING, with another all-star cast and crew stepping up and putting together one of the more anticipated films this year.

Ben's about to put a beat-down on ya

Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Massachusetts native Chuck Hogan, The Town introduces us to former pro-hockey prospect and lifetime criminal Doug MacRay, played by Ben Affleck, right as he and his crew of ne'erdowells begin their robbery of a bank in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts (in an area, Harvard Square, that I often frequent). After completely catching everyone by surprise, the gang is methodical in their execution of this endeavor; They almost routinely secure the bank employees, destroy the security footage, and calmly disable the guards while getting the bank's manager (Rebecca Hall) to open the safe so they can loot the contents. Afterwards, in a move not normally carried out by their crew, Jem (Jeremy Renner) decides to take the manager hostage to guarantee their escape, and the crew eventually drops her off when they are sure they've gotten away safely. The crew, despite being upset with Jem for taking such an unnecessary risk, believes they've gotten off scot free. The FBI has no leads, the manager didn't see anything to identify them, and they're already getting ready for the next job. But when the crew discovers that Claire, the manager, lives mere blocks away from their native Charlestown homes, Doug volunteers to get close to her to find out whether she knows enough to finger them for the crime.

Let's talk about Lucky Strikes...

What the film probably does best is in the use of it's rich characters. Doug is a lifetime petty criminal who once had a chance to get out of this town of malcontents when he was drafted to the NHL, but frittered away that opportunity. Now he's pretty much stuck in a perpetual rut, looking for a way out of this criminal career before he ends up like his father (Chris Cooper), a permanent resident of federal prison. After his mother left when Doug was a child, he's really had no choice but to follow the example of the few authority figures in his life: his father, lifelong friend Jem (whose family took him in when Doug's father was pinched), and local mobster Fergie the Florist (Pete Postlethwaite) who's at least partially based on real-life Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Jem is also a great character, a sociopathic thug with little to no morals outside of his closest friends who will shoot anyone who gives him or his family (blood or otherwise) a hard time. And many of the others are well thought out deep characters, no mere cliches of personalities.

Stop it! Your name is NOT Serena!

As the two friends, Affleck and Renner have amazing chemistry. Though Affleck would probably be run out of town if he couldn't pull off a local accent, but he's also charming and disarming as Doug, who falls head over heels for his target and wants more than ever to get out of this livelihood. Renner is the real prize, however, a local with no ambitions to leave his current situation, a thug of the highest order who seems to get a rush out of a successful heist. What's best about the character is his obvious concern for Doug, who he practically considers a brother. It allows you to connect and feel sympathetic with this character, who otherwise might be a simple bad guy. Speaking of bad guys, the obvious villains in this drama are the FBI investigating the string of bank and armored car heists carried out by this crew. Out in front is Special Agent Adam Frawley (John Hamm), who acts as the main antagonist to Doug's potential freedom. Hamm is quite engaging here, and here manages to maintain a relative sloppiness in comparison to his Mad Men character. There's not so much grace to Frawley, with a perpetual five-o'clock shadow and a hangdog look to his eyes that suggests years of futility and frustration. He's one surprise in the cast based on his limited work elsewhere, the other is Blake Lively as Jem's sister, an oxy-addicted single mother stuck in Charlestown and also with romantic aspirations with Doug. This is no Gossip Girl variation, she plays a character different from any she's played before, and does it WELL, which is probably more than anyone expected of her. Cooper is good, though his role is limited to a couple of small scenes. His character is based on the no-snitch people you read about, the ones who refuse to rat out their buddies to avoid jail time. Hall is good but it's sad to think that her role is almost nonessential come the second act of the film. She does play a part, but the story becomes more a three-way Doug-Jem-Frawley battle for supremacy and while Hall's character is supposed to be in the middle, it doesn't always feel that way. She does do a good job conveying the psychological side of someone who's survived mental trauma, and she's so many light years ahead of her performance in the largely overrated Vicky Christina Barcelona that the London actress finally seems to be making a name for herself as a legitimate actress.

Is another Oscar nomination far in this man's future?

The story is rife with thrills and suspense. There's no real MYSTERY to this tale, only to how Doug will finally escape Charlestown and the same fate as his father. It is very compelling, though, as you find yourself rooting for Doug to not get caught, to be with Claire, to escape Frawley and Jem and Fergie and the whole mess that comes with the territory. On top of that, as a Boston resident I was thrilled with every scene where I recognized the locale from my own strolls down these streets. Any local must feel something different when a film is shot and based in Boston, as sometimes based in Boston means shot in Toronto. But the Boston location means so much more to me, and means I'm even more into what's happening perhaps than people who don't live here, or haven't grown up here. It's simply a thrill and privilege to think my city contributed in some way to this story being told.

"Yeah, I've been knocking over banks for years."

The Town, despite being poorly-named, is an amazing film with great characters holding the story together. Perfectly captured by one of Boston's own, it's one of the best Boston-based films. More down to earth than The Departed and with better characters than Gone Baby Gone, The Town is subtle, nuanced, smart, edgy, and thrilling, and totally deserving to be my new #3 for the 2010. After all these years, Affleck has learned how to do good, and he came home to do it. He makes this town proud.

Yeah, you don't want to be on their bad side