So, let me get this straight. What you’re telling me is that I’m supposed to be sitting around with my thumb up my ass and my fingers crossed hoping that one of these fucking days somewhere down the line one of these rich assholes is going to say the wrong thing loud enough so that we can’t choose to ignore ’em anymore.
– A furious New York Police Detective Michael Bryer to the Judge in Arbitrage
As part of my mission to wean you schmucks from those mind-numbing, trashy Bollywood, Kollywood and Tollywood films, I present Arbitrage (2012) starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Nate Parker and Brit Marling.
Yes, notwithstanding your misinformation, Richard Gere, the Dalai Lama’s bosom pal, is still alive and kicking.
And Gere continues to make movies when he’s not espousing Tibetan causes.
In Arbitrage, Richard Gere plays a crooked hedge fund magnate Robert Miller who’s cooked the company’s books to the tune of $412 million so that he can sell his company to another Wall Street crook.
But if Arbitrage were merely about the financial shenanigans of Wall Street, nobody would have watched this film.
The average Joe is a stupid Joe with no patience for serious and important stuff, even if it’s about gross corruption and reckless behavior by the wealthy.
So director and writer Nicholas Jarecki livens up the picture.
Jarecki takes the corruption of Wall St and the power of the obscenely wealthy, throws in a sexy French mistress, a fiery car crash, a persistent police detective and a former felon, and delivers a heady concoction called Arbitrage.
Richard Gere is in his element as the 60-year-old patriarch of the family and head of a hedge fund that’s under great stress.
Robert Miller ‘s greed for a quick return in Russia has caused his whole financial empire to teeter on a precipice.
Seldom ruffled, mostly cold-blooded and making no pretense about the big part MONEY plays in his life, Gere plays the role of the hedge fund magnate with considerable elan.
If Gere is good, the rest of the crew including Susan Sarandon as Miller’s wife, Nate Parker as the former felon Jimmy Grant and Tim Roth as the police detective desperate to nab the big fish are no less impressive.
So how different are the obscenely wealthy from the rest of us?
Well, the obscenely wealthy Robert Miller has never heard of Applebee’s. That’s kind of like Sun TV baron Kalanidhi Maran not having heard of Saravana Bhavan!
Although the financial piece of Arbitrage is always centerstage, still director Nicholas Jarecki manages to get the right mix between the financial aspects and the other elements of the film like family, loyalty, love, police misconduct etc.
Arbitrage is a fine film worthy of your attention.
SearchIndia.com recommends Arbitrage to all lovers of crappy Indian movies so that they can discern the difference between gold dust and sawdust. The DVD is available at Netflix in the U.S.
Arbitrage – No Fraud in a Rich Man’s Lexicon added by SearchIndia.com on
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Saw this movie long back in Hyderabad, in theatre!
I mistook Brit Marling for Viva Bianca, the Spartacus woman.
Liked Ellen (Susan’s) role in this movie, especially towards the climax.
Otherwise, it was a boring movie with hardly any twists.
Really boring movie.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Otherwise, it was a boring movie with hardly any twists. Really boring movie.
I’m sorry that our good lord Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Virgin Mary, has not bestowed the blessing of good taste on all members of his flock equally!
As if life is one unending twirl of twists!
“As if life is one unending twirl of twists!”
Why not?
Do you think it’s boring and predictable with absolutely no twists at all? But I do agree it’s not an UNENDING twirl of twists. But my point is everyone’s life has its share of twists and turns.
Life can screw you in more ways than you can ever imagine.
There have been many a ‘twist’ in my life that I never saw coming 🙁
But in the context of a movie, expecting twists and turns in each and every movie is quite silly in my opinion.
Why can’t a movie be made without any filmy twists?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Arbitrage was a very well-made movie that melds Wall St bad behavior with a disastrous adulterous fling in a neat way.
And to whine that there’s no twist in it made no sense to me.
It’s a distressing symptom of the restless-age we live in that most of us hanker for something “new” or a “twist” all the time.
Speaking of Wall Street, I watched another movie Tower Heist about a week back.
Damn funny and such an entertaining movie.
There’s another movie I’d like to watch.. The Descendants. I only watched the latter half of it. I don’t remember seeing a single George Clooney movie except for some clips from Ocean’s Eleven.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
http://www.searchindia.com/2012/04/11/descendants-columbus-circle-reviews-above-average-below-average/
http://www.searchindia.com/2011/11/04/tower-heist-review-dont-miss-this-funny-bitch/
Let me divert your attention from Richard Gere’s excellent performance to http://www.sify.com/movies/saniathara-new-heroine-on-the-block-news-tamil-nddrtKaggbc.html
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Saniathara?
Good lord, is there no end to the craziness in the Indian movie world!
What if Saniathara were a fan of Komal Sharma and Namitha?
Then the girl’s screen-name would be Komanam! 😉
Ha Ha Ha… or KUshboo and SruTHI
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Man, now I’ve got to search for actors/actresses with PUN and DAI in their names.
Eureka, here we go – PUNeet issar and DAIsy shah! 😉
I’m sure we’ll have a Tollywood or Kollywood actress inspired by the above two to warrant changing her name.
Wow! Now those two are some strikingly good words…sorry names.
How about wannabe heroes/heroines inspired by Rajnikanth & Sarath Kumar?
– MUthu and annamaLAI
– SOOriyan and muTHU
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I’m sure Rajinikanth will be please at the novel use of his movie titles!
I will respond to your e-mail in a few minutes.