Movie Reviews

In Arbitrage, Richard Gere is a successful businessman (isn’t he in every single movie he’s in?) called Robert Miller who’s at the head of a family-owned hedge fund company that he’s trying to unload with a nice profit. He has a loving wife and a great family. In other words, it seems like he’s got it all. But seeing as that would make an extremely boring movie, things of course go wrong…

What his family doesn’t know is that thanks to some creative accounting, Miller has been able to cover up the fact that he’s nearly bankrupt. Aother small problem is that he’s been in a car accident in which his mistress died. Oh yeah, and his daughter is starting to suspect that the books have been tampered with.

It sounds like a nice enough setup but director Nicholas Jarecki fumbles the ball more than once throughout the proceedings and never quite seems to figure out whether he wants to put the focus on the shady business dealings or on the family relations. It makes Arbitrage a movie that’s okay-ish to watch. Just don’t expect too much of the finale which feels a bit clumsy.