Arbitrage 

Arbitrage’s main issue isn’t that it’s contrived, it’s that Jarecki is so conventional in his approach to the material. This plot would lend itself well to “last act of Goodfellas” mode, with all the hero’s spinning plates beginning to wobble simultaneously. Instead, Jarecki is thoroughly square, building the film on mano-a-mano confrontations and conversations that advance the story and themes, but do little to shade in his world or jangle the viewers’ nerves. Each new character Jarecki introduces—a demanding mistress, a ruthless rival, the working-class son of a former employee—fills exactly the expected role, primarily by defining how Gere is adept at manipulating people.

To be fair, though, with the cast he has, Jarecki doesn’t need to make his authorial presence known much. Between Gere matching wits with a police detective played by Tim Roth, and Gere having to explain himself to the steely Sarandon, Arbitrage is never dull. Gere makes his selfish fat-cat so sympathetic that his horrible choices seem almost comprehensible, while Sarandon works wonders with a small role, illuminating a woman who’s willing to play the part of the devoted wife as long as the situation is mutually beneficial, but not one day longer. As these characters jostle with each other, making demands and swapping lies, Jarecki gets across something meaningful about how for a certain type of person, everything in life is a negotiation.