Arbitrage

In this slick, savvy, suspenseful financial thriller, 60-year-old New York hedge-fund manager Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is about to make the deal of a lifetime and retire in rarefied elegance. Only problem: he's “borrowed” $412 million to cover his assets and is betting that James Mayfield (Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter)—who represents the major bank that is about to buy Miller's trading firm—won't catch on to how he's cooked the books. Struggling to hide his fraudulent duplicity from his daughter, Brooke (Brit Marling), who also happens to be his Chief Financial Officer, and his loyal, long-suffering wife, Ellen (Susan Sarandon), Miller is also having an affair with a French art-dealer, Julie Cote (Laetitia Casta), who dies in an automobile accident that implicates Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), the son of Miller's chauffeur. Sleazy NYPD Detective Michael Bryer (Tim Roth) knows that Jimmy is not guilty but wants to use the latter's vulnerability as leverage to get to a Wall Street tycoon like Miller. Inspired by a series of 2010 Vanity Fair articles, director Nicholas Jarecki's debut feature film offers a timely tale of slippery ethics, in which people push the boundaries of acceptable behavior in pursuit of the almighty buck. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer-director Nicholas Jarecki, “A Glimpse Into Arbitrage” behind-the-scenes featurette (13 min.), deleted scenes with optional commentary (10 min.), a “Who is Robert Miller?” character segment with star Richard Gere (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a solid drama.] (S. Granger)