Runner Runner, review - Telegraph If this multiplex equivalent of an airport novel proves anything, it's that Justin Timberlake can wear the hell out of a crisp white suit. We also know from The Social Network that preppy smart-alecs are well within his acting range. All in all, he's the right star for Brad Furman's movie, as a Princeton grad student who's been raising his tuition fees by mastering the ins and outs of online gambling. Going all in on a website called Midnight Black, he loses everything, susses he's been swindled, and gets the next flight out to Costa Rica to cry foul at its proprietor, a smooth-talking offshore tycoon called Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Hey presto, a high-stakes job in Block's organisation is JT's for the taking. And guess what? It's all a bit suspect. Furman made The Lincoln Lawyer, a mid-size sedan of a thriller with similarly sleek cast and furnishings. For a while, this hits the spot. Affleck, who might have played the lead 10 years ago, is moving into an Alec Baldwin-ish alpha-shark phase which fits his talents nicely. Yes, Gemma Arterton is needlessly orange as a cypher of a trophy-girlfriend character, passed between the two men as if she barely minds. But it's the legless plotting that starts hobbling the fun. The second act - Slippery Ethical Slope, of course - is over in a flash, and once Timberlake's Richie realises his predicament, the film's run out of any clever ways to deepen it. Nothing could match the OTT poker metaphors littering his voice-over, but let's have a try - Runner Runner starts off with a solid draw, then folds on the flop.