Runner, Runner, a movie starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, depicts a college student named Richie (Timberlake) who becomes employed by a wealthy online-poker founder named Ivan Block (Affleck). After exposing the corrupt system and becoming attracted to Block’s assistant, Richie becomes one of Block’s targets, and he must find a way to escape before Block’s henchmen come to find him. In this chasing thriller, both Richie and Ivan compete to outwit each other before the FBI can find them.

It has received a variety of generally low opinions from critics. Prairie Ridge junior, Anthony Rodriguez, mentioned that the movie was “subpar, but entertaining.”

Rotten Tomatoes, a popular critiquing website, gave the movie a 9%, meaning that the movie is considered a “rotten tomato.” The movie mostly wants to look timely and seem topical. Instead, it feels irrelevant,” says top critic, Rafer Guzman. Another critic from the site, Lee Zachariah, said that “Ultimately, Runner Runner is really just a movie designed to provide some background noise as you update your Facebook.”

Although not everyone was a fan, Ben Sachs said that “the mannered speech is fun, the players are charismatic, and director Brad Furman maintains an agreeably brisk pace.”

This movie was predictable. It did not introduce any new themes, but the classic good vs. evil complex. The duality existing between the two guys does not develop the characters.

Random characters enter and leave without further explanation too often, making the whole movie seem unrealistic and not thought out. Runner, Runner is meant to be fast paced, but in the end, it is confusing and hard to follow. I would personally give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Runner, Runner is available to rent now. But if you’re looking for movies about gambling mixed with a thriller, check out 21, a movie starring Ashton Kutcher, or Now You See Me, a movie starring Jesse Eisenberg instead.