Arbitrage defined is the practice of
taking advantage of a price difference between two or more
markets: striking a combination of matching deals that
capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference
between the market prices. Huh? I'm sorry I looked
that up because now my head hurts. So for our revised
definition of Arbitrage, it now means a system setup by a
slick looking older dude with great hair who cheats on his
wife, cheats the system, stabs people in people in the back,
manipulates those he can't stab, lies, cheats, steals and is
an all around awful person. But because this Arbitrage
cat is being played by Richard Gere… it's almost impossible to
root against this scumbag. The benefits of having great
hair.
On the surface it looks like Robert Miller (Gere) has it
all. He's rich, successful in business, often finds
himself on the cover of Fortune magazine, has a loving wife in
Ellen (Susan Sarandon), a couple of sharp children including
his daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) who would be poised to take
over her dad's company… that is if he wasn't in the midst of
brokering a mega deal to sell the damn thing.
This is where we begin to see the cracks in the otherwise
solid visage of one Robert Miller. Yes, he has a loving
wife but he also has a crazed mistress on the side. Just
so you know we here at the FCU are firm believers that
infidelity is a really bad thing, but when your pretend
mistress is being played by Laetitia Casta we must consider
the possibility of a little moral wiggle room. Just a
little. Continuing on, Robert is also selling this
company of his under a haze of smoke and mirrors to represent
some things financially that really aren't there. That's
would be fraud and that would put Robert in jail should he be
found out.
Then on one night on a lonely road driving
with his mistress, Robert's house of cards completely
collapses. Or at least it would've caved in on most
normal people but this cat is so slick that he has contingency
plans on top of contingency plans to get out of tight
binds. Crash a car, your mistress dies, you leave the
scene, the car explodes… what do you do? Call the one
Black guy you know (Nate Parker) because I guess Black people
know how to get out of this kind of trouble. Need an
alibi in case this mess comes back to you, then switch a few
surveillance tapes and get your loving wife to lie for
you. She knows what's up. That shady business deal
you designed is falling apart for a number of reasons, one of
these being because you raised your baby girl to be a little
too smart… lie, cheat, steal, play the daddy card… do what you
have to do to get your money. Black guy looking like he
might cave in… maybe a few mil will help him keep his mouth
shut. Rich people hating cop (Tim Roth) getting a little
too close to the truth, maybe even inventing some truth… turn
into Hercule Poirot and put him in his working class
place. Still… this house of cards is steadily collapsing
but… I think he's going to bamboozle his way out of it.
Director Nicholas Jerecki's movie is a slightly different kind
of thriller in that our hero is also our villain and it is
Richard Gere's portrayal of this heroic villain that makes
'Arbitrage' such a mesmerizing film to watch.
Mostly. Watching Robert Miller in action, the man going
through his numerous machinations to deceive and cheat and
mislead, it's pretty obvious that this guy is not a very good
person, but Robert Miller seems completely unaware that he is
an awful person. I mean he knows cheating on his wife is
wrong, otherwise while ducking out his 60th birthday party
he'd tell his wife the truth as to where he was going late at
night as opposed to making up a weak lie, but even though it's
not explicitly stated, he knows she knows. This
character has existed in a world so different from ours…or I
guess I should say 'different from mine' since I don't know
how you're living… but this character has been doing his thing
for so long that apparently there is no more right or wrong,
just winners and losers and Robert Miller isn't trying to
lose. And if you need an actor to play a slick looking
older dude with fantastic hair who at the same disgusts you,
but not so much that want to stop watching him do what he
does… and George Clooney is busy that week… the Richard Gere
is your go to guy.
Jerecki directs his movie swiftly, with the sensibilities of
an edge-of-your-seat thriller despite the heavy financial
overtones and terminology, and the movie is better for
it. The cast supporting Gere is top notch, and might I
say it's good to see Angel from The Rockford Files (Stuart
Margolin) still alive and working after all these years.
There are a couple of things, like some of the financial
verbiage leaving me a little confused since I'm not
financially fluent. The movie 'Margin Call' which was
far heavier in the verbiage than this one did have the common
decency to make sure some stupid people were always around who
needed stuff explained to them in ways they could
understand. Also Robert Miller's ability to pull rabbits
out of top hats started to push the limits of believability to
its breaking point. And if you step back a minute and
think about, beyond the fact that 'Arbitrage' was just flat
out entertaining, what was the message? Handsome rich
dudes always get what they want? I can speak from
personal experience that this just isn't true. Oh wait…
I'm not rich or handsome. Moving along…
'Arbitrage' is one fine thriller with just the bare minimum of
head scratching flaws, but featuring yet another solid
performance from Richard Gere.
