Arbitrage, Nicholas Jerecki's drama set in the world of high-finance, has the bare bones of quite a captivating story: fraud, family conflict, a mysterious death, and the threat of the collapse of an empire. What the film makes all of these is a disappointment on the narrative level. The film centers around Robert Miller (Richard Gere), a financial guru who made decisions that make him a certifiable criminal. In addition, Miller has an additional drama when conflict arises between him and his mistress. For his security, he tries to sell his company and must turn to an unlikely person for help.
Nicholas Jerecki makes for a strong debut, directorial-wise, and has the tact to effectively shoot a drama such as this, but his screenplay makes for a different story. While not necessarily over-cooked or clunky, it the story just never amounts to all that much, leaving us with a quasi character study and some attempt at a thriller. Neither of these are achieved very well.
The two conflicts that surround Richard Gere's characters and propel the drama never seem to cross effectively or impact the story in any particular way. The suspense of the narrative rarely reaches a level of intensity that would make this film significantly worthwhile. The only instance is an argument between Richard Gere and his wife, played by Susan Sarandon, in a very wasted role, where we get a glimpse of what could have been, of the intensity that is so needed to make this film gel. The financial situations depicted in the film have been effectively shown in films, such as Margin Call, but instead ends up a bit confusing, and over-bloated. Gere gives a solid performance, but unfortunately I don't find that Jarecki provided a script monumental enough to build much from. That said, Gere does come through and pull this film from the depths that it could be in.
Nicholas Jerecki makes for a strong debut, directorial-wise, and has the tact to effectively shoot a drama such as this, but his screenplay makes for a different story. While not necessarily over-cooked or clunky, it the story just never amounts to all that much, leaving us with a quasi character study and some attempt at a thriller. Neither of these are achieved very well.
The two conflicts that surround Richard Gere's characters and propel the drama never seem to cross effectively or impact the story in any particular way. The suspense of the narrative rarely reaches a level of intensity that would make this film significantly worthwhile. The only instance is an argument between Richard Gere and his wife, played by Susan Sarandon, in a very wasted role, where we get a glimpse of what could have been, of the intensity that is so needed to make this film gel. The financial situations depicted in the film have been effectively shown in films, such as Margin Call, but instead ends up a bit confusing, and over-bloated. Gere gives a solid performance, but unfortunately I don't find that Jarecki provided a script monumental enough to build much from. That said, Gere does come through and pull this film from the depths that it could be in.