Arbitrage

 

Nicholas Jarecki's Arbitrage builds up a great deal of momentum but ultimately falls apart. Richard Gere, who delivers a mostly fine performance, stars as Robert Miller, a venture capitalist trying to sell his cash-strapped company, which looks great on paper, to a banking concern. His scheme begins to unravel when the buyer holds up the purchase for one more audit, Miller's daughter begins to suspect book cooking, his mistress dies in a fiery car wreck from which Miller walks away, and the son of his former driver is collared by the cops after helping Miller flee the accident scene. Jarecki, who also wrote the screenplay, piles the calamities high and, for the most part credibly, but they start to tumble in the last act showdown between Miller and his devoted and boozy wife, played to unimpressive effect by the usually captivating Susan Sarandon. Arbitrage contains many fine moments but it's cynical ending doesn't deliver a satisfying pay off.