Arbitrage

Gere has been a movie star for more than three decades and has some of the more iconic film experiences on his resume to prove it, from the boy toy Julian in American Gigolo to the suave hooker-loving businessman of Pretty Woman. He tap danced in Chicago, did full frontal nudity in Breathless and played gynecologist to the likes of Helen Hunt, Farrah Fawcett, Tara Reid and Kate Hudson in Dr. T and the Women. Not all of his films have been successful, either at the box office or from an artistic point of view. Some of them are borderline unwatchable (King David, Mr. Jones). Through them all, though, Gere has given his best, whether the material deserved it or not. The match of man and material is strong in Arbitrage. Imagine if Edward Lewis, the business tycoon he played in Pretty Woman, never met the hooker with the golden heart who changed his evil ways and instead went on to destroy the old man’s company like he intended. Now crank him up to 11 and coat him in 20 years of slime and you have an idea of who Robert Miller is, at least under the surface. In lesser hands, Miller would be a caricature of a business shark, a Snidely Whiplash in a well-tailored suit. Gere’s better than that. Much better. He starts the film showing us Miller as a master of the financial universe, a man who knows the power he has and what it can get him. Watching that facade crack, and watching a good actor at the top of his game portray a man losing everything is absolutely fascinating.