This undated image provided by 20th Century Fox shows actors Ben Affleck, right, and Justin Timberlake during a scene from the film "Runner, Runner." The American Gambling Association has bought ads on... (Associated Press) 
 
 This undated image provided by 20th Century Fox shows actors Ben Affleck, right, and Justin Timberlake during a scene from the film "Runner, Runner." The American Gambling Association has bought ads on... (Associated Press) 
 
 The thriller "Runner Runner" starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck hasn't even opened yet, but it's already in the center of the fight over online gambling regulation. 
 
 The American Gambling Association has bought ads on major websites including Twitter, Facebook and the IMDb movie database framing the film as a "cautionary tale" that points to the need for Congress to legalize online poker. The ads also pop up when people Google the movie's title. 
 
 The screenwriters have said their story of a young gambler pulled into the criminal dealings of an offshore poker site was never intended as a political parable. The movie is scheduled to open later Thursday. 
 
 The Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation, a national nonprofit, sent a letter to the casino lobby Thursday pointing to the writers' comments, and calling the ads dishonest. The group is demanding that the ads _ one of which warns, "sometimes movie villains are real" _ be taken down. 
 
 National director Les Bernal wrote that there was no reason to think shady offshore operations would disappear if online gambling was legalized in The U.S. and accused the casino lobby of wanting a cut of the illegal operators' business. 
 
 "Casino operators now hope to expand another key demographic to their base: young people, especially those of college age, which is why the AGA greedily seized upon `Runner, Runner,'" Bernal wrote. 
 
 Internet poker, never fully legal, has been strictly outlawed since 2011, when the Department of Justice seized the domain names of the largest offshore sites catering to U.S. customers and blacked them out. 
 
 This crackdown, dubbed "black Friday," left poker fanatics with two options: Get dressed and visit a card room, or break the law and log into an offshore site. 
 
 Offshore gambling sites took in roughly $2.6 billion from U.S. players last year, according to Geoff Freeman, president of the association. 
 
 More recently, the federal government softened its stance on Internet betting, and three states _ New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada _ legalized some form of online wagering within their borders. 
 
 The gambling lobby, which counts MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment among its members, supports a federal approach. It warns that a patchwork of state laws will be unworkable for corporations and could leave gamblers exposed to dishonest dealings. 
 
 The lobby is seizing any opportunity to try to jumpstart stalled federal legislation. 
 
 "Washington is changing, and how you share your message in Washington is changing," Freeman said. "You've got to break through the clutter." 
 
 Freeman dismissed the predatory gambling group's complaint. He said online gambling empires like the one depicted in the movie often fail to verify gamblers' ages and locations, and they offer no guarantee they're playing fair. 
 
 "Runner Runner," released by Twentieth Century Fox, tells the story of a Princeton University graduate student, played by Timberlake, who believes he's been cheated after gambling away his tuition money. He travels to Costa Rica to stick it to an online poker tycoon, played by Affleck, who then offers him a job. 
 
 Writers David Levien and Brian Koppelman, who also created the 1998 gambling classic "Rounders," told Reuters that they were surprised by the casino lobby's campaign and found it amusing. 
 
 Early reviews have been mostly negative. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier . ||||| CLOSE Justin Timberlake plays an online poker player who gets in over his head after getting the chance to work for an offshore gambling company under investigation by the FBI. Ben Affleck plays his shady boss in 'Runner Runner.' VPC 
 
 Not the smartest Princeton student ever, Richie (Justin Timberlake) seizes a too-good-to-be-true business offer and gets embroiled in the sleazy world of an racketeering gambling tycoon (Ben Affleck) 
 
 Justin Timberlake, front, and Ben Affleck star in the new crime thriller 'Runner, Runner.' (Photo: Scott Garfield, 20th Century Fox) Story Highlights USA TODAY review: ** out of four 
 
 Stars: Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie 
 
 Rated R, runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutes; opens Friday nationwide 
 
 Even with its glossy Costa Rican setting, Runner Runner (* * out of four; rated R; opening Friday nationwide) is a vacant excursion with plot holes the size of a small Caribbean island. 
 
 Justin Timberlake plays Richie, a not-so-subtle name for a former Wall Street star whose career tanked with the recession in 2008. He becomes a Princeton grad student/gambling whiz, then casually tosses his education away and is sucked into the world of online wagering. 
 
 For context, a few establishing headlines and news snippets are shoehorned in to let us know that online betting is a growing practice on university campuses. Richie is a kind of Joe College bookie, hustling his classmates — and even a few professors — onto an Internet poker site. 
 
 When Richie loses his life savings — which just about covers the cost of one term's tuition at Princeton — he deduces it's a swindle and hops on the next plane to Costa Rica to face the guy who done him wrong. He gets his money back — no joke — but is seduced by the lure of fast-track wealth. 
 
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 The refund and seduction are courtesy of an even richer guy, with fewer scruples — as in none. This Costa Rica-based CEO is gambling tycoon Ivan (Ben Affleck). When a character is named Ivan, he's bound to be terrible. Everything in the movie is just that obvious, including the clunky expository voice-over narration. 
 
 One of the film's biggest problems is that Richie is an unsympathetic and rather dim character. The badly drawn role does the likable Timberlake no favors. The talented singer/actor was better in The Social Network, Friends With Benefits, Alpha Dog and almost any SNL skit. He plays a Wall Street weasel who decides to go back to school when his other options disappear, and he contributes to the gambling addictions of students and professors. He's hardly a figure of integrity. When a teacher approaches him for help with a bad bet he placed, Richie shrugs him off arrogantly. Consequently, it's hard to care much when he gets used by Ivan. 
 
 Gemma Arterton plays Rebecca, Richie's love interest, and also the COO of Ivan's gambling empire. Richie and Rebecca look good together, but have a lackluster chemistry. 
 
 Meanwhile, the feds are closing in on Ivan. FBI Special Agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie) is building a case against Ivan for racketeering, extortion, bribery and other unsavory practices. 
 
 Ivan is a devious and clever fellow. Affleck is at his best when his character is most malicious. Not only does he seem to be having fun with the role, but his Spanish is terrific. Audiences can debate whether he ought to play Batman, but his linguistic ear cannot be disputed. 
 
 Richie, on the other hand, is not as bright as his Ivy League admission would indicate. It's glaringly obvious that his new boss is up to no good. But Richie is an odd mix of savvy and naïve. It takes a few beatings and double-crossings before his IQ points seem to register. And when they do, it comes to a pretty anti-climactic conclusion. 
 
 When the story lags, director Brad Furman resorts to focusing on shots of chomping crocodiles. 
 
 But neither toothy reptiles nor stunning beachside vistas (actually shot in Puerto Rico) offer enough risk or reward to make this gambling thriller worth betting on. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1fMtlbE ||||| Remember the old Ben Affleck, the one who made 28 consecutive bad movies before he turned out to be a pretty good director? He’s back! Behold, the second coming of . . . Badfleck. 
 
 Ben, bless his impressive directorial skills, on camera still looks only vaguely responsive to external stimuli, as if he’s waiting for his turn at the keg at the University of Vermont. He plays offshore gambling tycoon Ivan Block, as in block of wood. That’d be soft wood, like pine, or maybe balsa. 
 
 At Block’s not-quite-legal outfit in Costa Rica, he meets a furious customer, Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake), who feels cheated by the computer poker program he used to play at Princeton. Instead of having him immediately shot, Block becomes the first casino owner ever to admit cheating, then offers Richie a job, supposedly because he fears the mighty power of a Princeton student spreading rumors about the integrity of his site. 
 
 At other times, though, we’re supposed to think Block is some sort of online Scarface, though given that it’s Affleck he’s more like Blankface. As a random girl (Gemma Arterton) who doesn’t seem particularly fascinating to either man flits in and out of the scenery, Affleck and Timberlake face each other down, each trying to outmuscle and outscam the other. At no point does either of them seem at all dangerous. It’s like a cockfight between declawed pussycats. 
 
 Timberlake babbles about algorithms, and we’re supposed to buy Affleck as the kind of man who feeds his enemies to crocodiles. Affleck wants us to think Robert De Niro in “Casino,” but I was more scared of Robert De Niro in “Little Fockers.” 
 
 When Richie gets in too deep, an FBI man (Anthony Mackie) offers him a possible way out if he’ll turn rat, but Richie has a better idea: He’ll simply bribe everyone in the country. I don’t know how that’s supposed to work, since Block has already been bribing everyone for years, with a million times more money and firepower than Richie has, but maybe everyone in Costa Rica really liked “D - - k in a Box.” By the way, at what point will Hollywood realize that a five-minute video isn’t quite as useful as five feature-length films in determining whether Timberlake is a movie star? He isn’t. He’s proven it. Let’s retire him and give Lance Bass a chance. 
 
 I’ll give the movie credit for coming up with a few lines of nasty dialogue and cool-sounding poker slang. There’s also one brilliant joke: Mackie’s FBI man tells Richie he loves to bust Princeton men. Pause. “I went to Rutgers.” 
 
 But the director, Brad Furman, never manages to stir up any excitement or menace. How can we blame him when the script calls for Affleck to gaze manfully at Timberlake and say, “I look at you and I see myself. You’ve got the same f - - k-you look in your eye.” Can you think of any two actors who have less danger coming out of their eyeballs? OK, maybe Michael Cera and Neil Patrick Harris, but you don’t see either of them trying to play a hard case. 
 
 Possibly the most honest moment of the film comes when, offered a single-malt scotch, Timberlake’s character says no thanks, he’ll just stick with his Bud Light. Bud Light is fizzy, it’s low-potency, it’s completely lacking in flavor. It’s Justin Timberlake in a can. As for Affleck, he’s equally useless as an actor but in a throwback way: cinematic Zima. ||||| Only one word describes the effect of watching Ben Affleck slowly dial down the temperature one degree at a time in "Runner Runner": Cool. Frank Sinatra cool. 
 
 He stars as sociopathic online gambling mogul Ivan Block, and if that role doesn't sound cool, you haven't seen Affleck at the controls. 
 
 Justin Timberlake costars as Richie Furst, a Princeton whiz kid, also cool. Not as cool as Block. Nor as keen on the whole sociopathic lifestyle. The money's great, but feeding enemies to the crocodiles crosses some lines. 
 
 But we're not there yet. 
 
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 First we're introduced to Richie's very profitable campus online gambling services, with all the money going to a good cause called tuition. After he gets on the dean's list — and not in a good way — his fortunes change. Smart guy that he is, Richie decides he can beat the online gambling odds and cover his Princeton bill. When that doesn't work, he tracks down the guy whose online operation cheated him: the legendary Ivan Block. 
 
 Great clothes, great presence, great-looking COO Rebecca Shafran (Gemma Arterton), Block is a smooth operator with great expectations when it comes to Richie. He extends an offshore offer the kid can't refuse. FBI agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie), who has made the mogul and his Costa Rican enterprise a special project, has an offer of his own. 
 
 The question is, who is bluffing whom? 
 
 My bet's on Block no matter how the movie plays out. He is one killer of a character, and Affleck plays him like a Bach concerto — every note perfectly played. Loved Affleck in "Argo" and "The Town," but this particular Machiavellian turn reminds me more of his troubled George Reeves in "Hollywoodland." Something about the set of the jaw, the seduction in the eyes. 
 
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 The crime thriller is directed by Brad Furman, who has a habit of falling in love with certain characters, as he did Matthew McConaughey's back-seat attorney in "The Lincoln Lawyer." It means he tends to forget to pay enough attention to the rest. He's done it again with Block. Richie and Rebecca deserved more. 
 
 There are other challenges, primarily a spotty script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. They have written other manipulation stories, among them the teasing "Ocean's Thirteen," and to my mind their best, the tense "Runaway Jury." But in "Runner Runner" they've gotten completely caught up in explaining the specifics. 
 
 There is what amounts to an on-screen tutorial about online gambling, with a series of news clips decrying the practice and actual computer screen demonstrations. Yawn. 
 
 They get into why Block's business is offshore, as if terms such as "illegal" and "money laundering" are new to the lexicon. They throw in Richie's dad, Harry (John Heard), a low-end poker player and a cheat, then write "fall guy" all over him. 
 
 Wake me up when this is over. 
 
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 Fortunately we do have Timberlake. He has a way of breathing life into even deadened moments. You want to watch him. But like most stars, his acting is better when the plotting is smarter. "Runner Runner" too often sends Timberlake running down a blind alley when he should be out on a scary limb or twisting in the wind, so we have something to worry about. This is billed as a crime "thriller," after all. 
 
 There are many bribes and betrayals in "Runner Runner," a few twists on trust, and some surprise appearances by Agent Shavers, whose outrage Mackie makes fun. 
 
 Arterton is a very appealing Brit still looking for one of those breakout roles. And no, I do not count "Clash of the Titans" or "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," no matter how big their budgets. She and Timberlake have good chemistry on the few occasions Furman lets them bring sexy back. 
 
 A little romance is a nice break from all the money stuff. I never realized how boring it is to watch someone count it, or deliver it, or receive it. Not even when cinematographer Mauro Fiore, with an Oscar for "Avatar," is shooting the rich, the impoverished and the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica with such a discerning eye. 
 
 The struggles in the movie are with the moments when life and liberty are on the line. The ones that should put you on the edge of your seat are more likely to have you glancing at your watch. 
 
 Even with Affleck doing his Rat Pack best, by the end of "Runner Runner," the chill is gone. 
 
 betsy.sharkey@latimes.com 
 
 ----------------------------------- 
 
 'Runner Runner' 
 
 MPAA rating: R for language and some sexual content 
 
 Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes 
 
 Playing: In general release ||||| ‘Runner Runner’: Poker players fall into familiar patterns By RICHARD ROEPER Movies Columnist 
 
 ‘RUNNER RUNNER’ ★★ Richie Furst Justin Timberlake Rebecca Shafran Gemma Arterton Shavers Anthony Mackie Ivan Block Ben Affleck 20th Century Fox presents a film directed by Brad Furman and written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Running time: 91 minutes. Rated R (for language and some sexual content). Opens Friday at local theaters. 
 
 Updated: 
 
 All the best poker movies feature tense, life-changing showdowns, with our hero staring across the table at his seemingly unbeatable foe. 
 
 Think Edward G. Robinson with the straight flush against Steve McQueen in “The Cincinnati Kid,” or Matt Damon trapping the Oreo-twisting John Malkovich in “Rounders.” 
 
 Justin Timberlake’s Richie is a poker whiz (among other things) in “Runner Runner,” and Ben Affleck’s Ivan Block (now there’s a name) is his foe-turned-friend-turned-foe, but we don’t see a single hand of traditional poker played out in this glossy, light thriller. 
 
 “Runner Runner” is about the world of online poker, and though we do get one extended sequence in which Richie “multi-tables” at his computer while a group of overacting extras — I mean, fellow Princeton students — cheer him on, the gambling world is merely the setup for a standard-issue thriller that plays like “Wall Street” with guns in Costa Rica. 
 
 Affleck has the Michael Douglas role as the law-skirting Ivan, whose online poker company is raking in $750,000 per day in “rake fees,” i.e., the small commission the site takes out of every single hand played by hundreds of thousands of players the world over. Timberlake has the Charlie Sheen part as Richie, who talks his way into Ivan’s inner circle and soon becomes his most trusted confidante. 
 
 We even have John Heard in the Martin Sheen role as Richie’s Dad, and Gemma Arterton essentially playing the part Daryl Hannah had in “Wall Street” — the tall and gorgeous creature who falls in love with Richie, and yes, she had a thing with Ivan back in the day. 
 
 Richie is a Princeton grad student who loses his entire online poker bankroll playing “fish” (easily beatable opponents) who, against all odds, seem to know exactly what cards he’s holding. That’s because they DO know what cards he’s holding. They’re cheating. 
 
 So Richie gets on a plane to Costa Rica, one of the many offshore headquarters of online gambling sites operated by American entrepreneurs in self-imposed exile from the States, where this whole online gambling thing is frowned upon, and confronts Ivan with the evidence. Ivan feigns ignorance, thanks Richie for not going public with the information — and offers Richie the chance to stay in Costa Rica and learns the ropes, with the promise of a “ten-figure income” within three years. 
 
 This is one of the many times in which Richie can either gamble or play it safe and do the right thing. I think you know which way he plays it. 
 
 The script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (who wrote “Rounders,” still the best poker movie ever) indicates high-level knowledge of the inner workings of the online gambling world, and director Brad Furman delivers suitably enticing visuals of the sun, surf, sand and sex of Costa Rica. We can see how Richie could be blinded to some obvious pitfalls as he rakes in the cash, basks in the glow of Ivan’s charm and power — and falls for Gemma Arterton’s Rebecca, who seems to have an endless supply of tight dresses as she engages Richie in verbal foreplay. 
 
 But after an intriguing setup, “Runner Runner” devolves into a by-the-books thriller with Richie paired off against Ivan in a race against the clock and the FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) who talks as if his entire vocabulary was programmed by watching TV crime dramas and B-movies. 
 
 Timberlake’s OK here, as he is in just about every film he does — but there’s no movie-star punch to him. He doesn’t carry the same charisma as, say, a young Leonardo DiCaprio. As for Affleck, he’s well suited to the slick mogul side of Ivan — but when it’s time for Ivan to go dark, the menace just doesn’t feel authentic. 
 
 When Ivan compares what he does to the companies that sell $250 gym shoes, “Runner Runner” shines. When Ivan tells Richie to man up: great speech. It’s like a promising starting hand in Texas Hold ’Em. This could go somewhere! 
 
 But as each succeeding card is revealed, that starting hand shrinks to the point of mediocrity. 
 
 Email: rroeper@suntimes.com 
 
 Twitter: @richardroeper
– Unlike Gravity, which has critics swooning, the new online-poker thriller Runner Runner is flat-out tanking on Rotten Tomatoes. The film stars Justin Timberlake as Richie, a Princeton grad who puts himself through school by playing poker; when he goes belly up, he hunts down online mastermind Ivan (Ben Affleck) and gets involved in his high-stakes, dangerous business. But for critics, it's becoming a putdown contest: "Even with its glossy Costa Rican setting, Runner Runner ... is a vacant excursion with plot holes the size of a small Caribbean island," writes Claudia Puig at USA Today. "Remember the old Ben Affleck, the one who made 28 consecutive bad movies before he turned out to be a pretty good director?" writes Kyle Smith at the New York Post. "He’s back! Behold, the second coming of ... Badfleck." Ouch. The film has "an intriguing setup," writes Richard Roeper at the Chicago Sun-Times, but it "devolves into a by-the-books thriller with Richie paired off against Ivan in a race against the clock and the FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) who talks as if his entire vocabulary was programmed by watching TV crime dramas and B-movies." A bright spot, as per Betsy Sharkey at the LA Times: "Fortunately we do have Timberlake. He has a way of breathing life into even deadened moments. You want to watch him. But like most stars, his acting is better when the plotting is smarter." At least there's a substantial side to Runner Runner: It has landed in the middle of a regulatory battle over online gambling, reports the AP.