Bill I’s Review – 4 out of 5
Richard Gere plays a cool billionaire wall street mega-dealer akin to today’s private equity and hedge fund super stars; in fact he could be the same guy from Pretty Woman, just 30 years later, but none the worse for wear, on the surface. His perfect family, perfect society wife (Susan Sarandon) and perfect girl on the side (Laetitia Casta, who started as my all-time favorite Victoria’s Secret model, and is fine here as a French “struggling artist”) all make for a perfect storm, that I won’t give away here. The story gets tense real fast and Richard has to do some fast thinking and acting to keep his world from crumbling. The surprise for me is Brit Marlling as Gere’s daughter and heir apparent in the business.
The other break out performance is by Nate Parker,
as Gere’s unwilling clean-up guy, nowhere near as experienced as Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction. Nate puts a face on the collateral damage done by deals gone bad, while Gere and his ilk just write another check. Compelling movie!
