A 2013 crime-thriller film by Brad Furman, written by Brian Koppelman and produced by Koppelman and Leonardo DiCaprio, starring Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Anthony Mackie and Gemma Arterton.
Richie Furst (Timberlake), a Princeton economics student and son of a gambler, once worked at a hedge fund firm, before it went bust in the late-2000s Great Recession and he had to go back to school. Because his income from it was too high, he is not eligible for financial aid, and to fund his studies, has resorted to becoming an affiliate for online gambling, earning a cut from every player that signs up to a site. However, as gambling is forbidden on the campus, the dean threatens to expel him if he doesn't cease his activities immediately. He then tries to win his tuition money by playing poker himself on online site Midnight Black and loses, yet discovers that the players he lost to were playing abnormally. So he decides to fly down to Costa Rica, where the site's owner Ivan Block (Affleck) is based in, and ends up working his way inside his organization. He also becomes romantically involved with Block's ex Rebecca Shafran (Arterton) and is constantly harassed by FBI Agent Eric Shavers (Mackie), who tries to bring Block in, but lacks the jurisdiction to do so.
This film provides examples of:
- Bad Boss: Ivan Block. He doesn't hesitate to send Richie out to bribe a Corrupt Bureaucrat with a smaller amount of money. Then, when Richie comes back, after getting beaten up by the said bureaucrat's goons, Ivan tells him it's just part of the job:Ivan: Did he take the money?
Richie: Yeah, he took it.
Ivan: Then what's the f***ing problem, Richie? I mean, it's the gambling business in Costa Rica. Occasionally, you get punched in the face.
Richie: You let me walk right into it, Ivan.
Ivan: This is your job. You understand? If you want a safer job, go work for the post office. You want a clear conscience? Go start a charity. But if you want your own f***ing island and your boss says you gotta go out there and take a beating, go out there, take it, come back to work and say, "Do you need me to do it again?" Because right now, I am giving you the keys to the kingdom.
Richie: How did you know I'd even make it out of there alive? How did you know?
Ivan: Because you're a winner. Because I believe in you. And you got hurt. I'm sorry. But if I'm telling the truth, I'd do it again. - Banana Republic: Costa Rica seems to be somewhat depicted as such, with corrupt authority figures. Although in real life, Costa Rica is somewhat a developing country, it has been a stable democracy with a reasonably high quality of life, so probably it would have denied permission to film the movie there. Also pointed out by the Corrupt Bureaucrat:Herrera: You have stability and you know it. We've been a democracy for over 50 years because we don't give the people a reason to unseat us. And the people of this country would love nothing more than to haul an American in as the face of corruption.
- Caught on Tape: Ivan wants Richie to get superaffiliate Shecky to sign with him. When Richie asks Shecky what he wants, he says he wants 33% rake-back on his poker players and to stay at cost-per-acquisition on his casino gamers, as opposed to Midnight Black's 30% rake-back and rev-share. Ivan refuses, saying that then every piker who thinks they're an affiliate would start demanding those terms. Richie, having picked up that Shecky is about to head home in two days for his wife's pregnant with their first child, then invites Shecky to have an outing on a fishing boat with a few bikini-clad girls. Later, in Shecky's hotel room, he then shows Shecky the tape of him in bed with those girls, to get Shecky to sign up with Block.
- Corrupt Bureaucrat: Herrera, the Costa Rican gaming commissioner, whom Ivan has bribed to the tune of $5.7 million in 3.5 years. However, when Block brings him the money, Herrera tells him that he'll have to double the bribes from now on, because some of his colleagues in the legislature believe Ivan is ruining Costa Rica.
- Fall Guy: As the Costa Rican authorities are gonna come down on him, Ivan plans to move his operation to Antigua, while putting everything in Richie's name and let him be arrested as the head of the operation. However, it backfires when Richie starts giving his own payoffs to the local authorities and is permitted to leave Costa Rica as the operation is being raided.
- The Gambling Addict: Richie's father Harry (John Heard), has been gambling a lot in Atlantic City. He often left Richie all alone in the hotel room while he was in the casino. He had also accumulated a debt of $187,000.
- Hookers and Blow: Herrera tells Ivan that his colleagues believe that Ivan is ruining Costa Rica with his online poker operation:Herrera: You might find this hard to believe because of how welcoming my country can be, but some of my colleagues in the legislature believe your kind is ruining Costa Rica.
Ivan: Me doing damage? I'm a fountain of money in this shithole. I put millions into your economy. I give employment to hundreds of people, with better salaries than you can pay.
Herrera: I understand, that's exactly what I tell them. But they go on and on about how the gringos and their online gaming money attracts undesirables, breeds prostitution, even drugs. - Jurisdiction Friction: When Richie first encounters Shavers, his goons throw him in the back of a truck and bring him to a secluded spot. While Shavers can't give him even a parking ticket down in Costa Rica, he delights in harassing him in other ways to make him work for him. Averted in the end, when Richie has paid off the pilot, who flies Ivan to Puerto Rico, a US Territory, thus Shavers is able to arrest him there.
- Last-Name Basis: Shavers makes it clear to Richie:Shavers: My name is Eric Shavers. Don't call me "Eric", call me "Agent Shavers".
- The Lopsided Arm of the Law: After Richie has his first encounter with Shavers, Ivan downplays it.Ivan: Just ask yourself one thing, are you doing something wrong? I make it possible for a fat guy in Cleveland to play Omaha Hi-Lo in his underwear in his living room. Shoot me. I mean, these fucking shoe companies, they pay a Chinese eight-year-old two nickels to hand-stitch these fucking things till their fingers bleed, then they sell them in the ghetto in the United States for $250. And I'm the fucking criminal?
- Lured into a Trap: Ivan sends Richie to deliver a bribe to Herrera, however, with a much smaller amount than he usually has paid him. Herrera doesn't take it too well, believing that Ivan might be trying to send him a message. However, it results in Herrera's men beating Richie up, with Herrera telling Richie to "tell your puto gringo boss I'm sending a message."
- Luxury Prison Suite: When Ivan is arrested by Shavers, he believes he will get this treatment, even as Shavers has pointed out that they have a whole lot of evidence on him:Shavers: Money laundering, racketeering, wire fraud. Look under your feet, that's American concrete. Kiss it, because you'll be sleeping on it for a long time.
Ivan: We'll see. That's the great thing about America, we go soft on financial crime. Maybe 8 months on a farm, something like that. - Miranda Rights: At the end, Shavers reads the rights to Ivan, with one change regarding the defense:Shavers: Now, here's the good part. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, a really fucked-up one will be provided for you.
- Parents in Distress: Richie's father has in addition to his gambling problems also has been kiting counterfeit bills. He was about to be arrested in Atlantic City, when Ivan's henchman snatched him and brought him over to Costa Rica, and also Ivan bought out his $187,000 gambling debt. Ivan didn't do it because of any kindness though, but to use him as a leverage against Richie. Richie now has to also figure out a way of how to get his father out of the mess he's in with Ivan.
- Police Are Useless: When Richie is interrogated by the Costa Rican police Sergeant, he asks him why they won't do anything with Block, since they don't have Jurisdiction Friction. The sergeant then tells him that if they did, Block would by the judge a steak dinner, while the sergeant would find himself out of a job.
- School Rivalry: Shavers tells Richie that he enjoys tormenting him due to their alma maters' intrastate rivalry: Richie went to Princeton (a highly prestigious Ivy League university) while Shavers went to Rutgers (a public university).
- Tricked into Another Jurisdiction: Ivan is planning on moving his operation to Antigua. However, Richie bribes the pilot of the private jet, and in-flight, Rebecca pulls down the plane's window blinds, claiming to be bothered by the sunlight, but really to prevent Ivan to finding out where they're really going. As the plane lands, Richie confronts Ivan on the ground. Ivan, still thinking they're in Antigua, asks him "You don't think I own this place too?", to which Richie asks him back "And where exactly do you think this is?". As Ivan looks to the airport building, he sees the flags of Puerto Rico and the United States. (Puerto Rico being a US territory). Shavers then moves in and arrests him.