Arbitrage 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: The main reason to see Arbitrage is Gere, whose steady improvement with age (he just turned 63) is not remarked upon enough. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Jarecki's film has a great performance at its center... Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: Features an exceedingly dapper Richard Gere in a series of nice suits and handsome close-ups that serve no purpose other than to remind us how exceedingly dapper Richard Gere looks in nice suits and handsome close-ups. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Movieline: Gere does his best to give Arbitrage an agitated energy, but Jarecki's fatalism works against the film. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. Gere is one of cinema's great walkers, graced with a suggestively predatory physical suppleness, and he slips through the movie like a panther. He's the film's most deluxe item. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: There are holes in the plot, to be sure, but somehow we don't mind, because for all the unbearable tension of Jarecki's script, the central attraction here is the man in the arena. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It could readily be mistaken for the work of an experienced and justifiably self-confident filmmaker with a nose for newsy stories, a knack for telling them tersely, and a gift for directing actors Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Arbitrage overcomes some pulpy plot twists and a little anti-corporate sermonizing to become a brisk tale of a financial wizard whose sins have returned to collect a debt. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: "Arbitrage" is a fine showcase for the silky talents of Richard Gere, who's so smooth here you could spread him on toast. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Between Gere matching wits with a police detective played by Tim Roth and him having to explain himself to the steely Sarandon, Arbitrage is never dull. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Its best attribute is Gere's performance. He hasn't been this good in ages. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The movie wants to be an instant Sidney Lumet classic along the lines of "Serpico" or "Prince of the City," but it doesn't have the roots. It's new money. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: This isn't very effective as a thriller, though it's a provocative fable about our ambivalent feelings toward financial elites. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: I enjoyed it, even as I hustled here and there to keep up with its Wall Street argot. The writing's juicy and effective, and the actors have fun with it. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Gere's very good at making Robert's compromises seem more human than horrid. He portrays the philanthropic, philandering patriarch with his customary twinkle. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Mediocre at best. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Jarecki, it's clear, has the talent to make shrewdly pleasurable Hollywood movies. Here's hoping Arbitrage is the first of many. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Film.com: In the end, the moralism of "Arbitrage" feels glued-on rather than earned. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Nothing about the plot is novel, but the film easily maintains a low simmer that picks up in the final act, as Miller has to fight to keep his sinking ship staffed. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: A tense and chilling horror story for financially fraught times. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Gere has always excelled at portraying smooth, elegant men who know a little more than everyone else in the room. But in Arbitrage he's playing a different note: Desperation. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Arbitrage" gets away with a few crime-flick cliches because it's also a thoughtful character study. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Part thriller, part character study, and it moves swiftly and confidently, with many details that feel exactly right. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Giving the tale an extra dose of reality is Richard Gere. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR: Unfolding in somber tones and among hard surfaces, Arbitrage has the slickness of new bank notes and the confidence of expensive tailoring. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Rather than seeming pat, Jarecki's straightforward cynicism is pointed and purposeful. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: I'm not sure any five pages of this script by director Nicholas Jarecki hold together. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Slick and suspenseful ... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The screenplay, written by first-time director Nicholas Jarecki, keeps us guessing, which is one of the best compliments one can pay to a movie of this sort. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Hitchcock called his most familiar subject "The Innocent Man Wrongly Accused." Jarecki pumps up the pressure here by giving us a Guilty Man Accurately Accused, and that's what makes the film so ingeniously involving. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Richard Gere's performance in the sinfully entertaining Arbitrage is too good to ignore. At 62, he is at the peak of his powers. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Gere is so charming, so irresistible when he's on top of the world - when he's got all those plates humming in unison - that he kind of makes you root for his character to get away with it all. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Paced like a slick '80s thriller but themed for millennial relevance, "Arbitrage" splits the difference with a confidently cruising Gere. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: Gere gets the role he has been suiting up for ever since he was first designer-dressed for a murder rap in American Gigolo. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: A tight thriller that shows [its] handsome star in fine form as a morally bankrupt financier playing fast and loose with ethics and the law. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Sex, wealth, paternal swagger-all of the colors come out of Gere in a showstopping performance. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Between this cast and the conviction Jarecki brings to the table, the film feels incredibly accomplished for a first feature. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "Arbitrage" becomes far more complex than just dramatized anti-corporate polemic, or even a simple fall from grace. Read more