Arbitrage

• Title: Arbitrage
• IMDB: link

By outward appearances Robert Miller (Richard Gere) has it all. The hedge fund manager has a thriving family business, a loving wife (Susan Sarandon), and devoted children (Brit Marling, Austin Lysy). And one moment on a deserted street will threaten to take it all away.

While getting out of town for some alone time with his mistress (Laetitia Casta), Miller loses control and crashes her car. Although he walks away with minor scrapes and bruises, his mistress isn’t so lucky. While trying to navigate the complicated sale of his company to an elusive businessman (Graydon Carter) and hide using his company’s money for personal use from both his family and the IRS, Miller cannot afford the scrutiny an accident like this would bring.

Fleeing the scene with the help of the son (Nate Parker) of a longtime employee, Miller tries to keep one step ahead of an investigation led by a cop with a hard-on to take him down (Tim Roth), and make sure the sale goes through.

Arbitrage is an engaging thriller centered around a charming man who uses everyone around him to further his own ends. However, by his own choice, his fate now resides in the choices of a young black man who Detective Bryer (Roth) will go to any lengths to break. Gere is well-cast in roles like this and Roth works fine as the obsessed cop just out of reach of the biggest collar of his career. Even if the ending felt a little too pat, Arbitrage delivers a solid story fueled by little white lies which have big consequences.

Both the Blu-ray and DVD include deleted scenes, featurettes on the making of the film and its main character, and audio commentary from writer/director Nicholas Jarecki.

[Lions Gate, DVD $19.98 / Blu-ray $24.99]