Sep 15, 2012 By Lou Gaul calkins Media Film Critic 3 min read

Richard Gere appears aged to perfection.

Less a superstar than dependable leading man, the 63-year-old actor is at the top of his game in “Arbitrage.” In the timely dramatic financial thriller, Gere plays hedge-fund kingpin Robert Miller, a fabulously successful 60-year-old investment guru who has been defrauding his auditors in order to sell his business and is short more than $400 million.

He doesn’t have long to go before the bottom will fall out and his deception will be revealed for the world to see.

With “Arbitrage,” Gere faced the challenge of creating sympathy for the devil. The filthy rich Miller worries about the personal impact of his illegal investment deals and cares nothing for his clients. Despite that, we still find some appeal in the character thanks to Gere’s ability to take a human viper and make him sympathetic despite his self-obsessed survival instincts, financial crimes, personal shortcomings and lack of conscience.

Documentarian Nicholas Jarecki (“The Outsider”), who makes his dramatic directing debut with “Arbitrage,” carefully weaves the story elements. The film contains numerous surprises, but the narrative suffers some fallout due to a rather far-fetched deadly crime that seems like cinematic patchwork to hold the story together.

It’s easy to forgive that, especially with Gere in full command of his sleazy-under-the-surface character and his co-stars also in fine form.

As Miller’s underestimated wife Ellen, Susan Sarandon creates a character with surprising insight. Rising actress Brit Marling (“Another Earth”) brings a real sense of melancholy in her performance as Miller’s daughter and co-worker, who initially thinks the world of her father.

Nate Parker plays a key role of a financially limited character manipulated by powerful forces. That cruel manipulation appears to be the result of the color of his skin, raising a racial issue that adds an uncomfortable sting to the material.

Jarecki continually inserts images of bad behavior in “Arbitrage,” which certainly benefits from Gere’s big-screen charm as a balance for so many of the narrative’s toxic elements. The director communicates the sad truth that some of the rich get wealthier by following a scorched-earth financial policy that makes those at the top of the food chain richer while destroying working folks just trying to keep food on the table.

FILM REVIEW

“Arbitrage”

Grade: B+

Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling and Nate Parker; produced by Laura Bickford, Kevin Turen, Justin Nappi, Robert Salerno and Mohammed Al Turki; written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki.

Running Time: 100 minutes.

Parental Guide: R rating (language, brief violent images, drug use)