Arbitrage opens on a warm family scene: Dead-eyed Robert (Richard Gere) shares a birthday dinner with his wife and children, reveling in the love of his family and the imminent sale of his company. It's an enviable, candlelit vision of the good life—and its hollowness is quickly revealed when Robert dashes off for a visit with his gap-toothed French mistress. Robert's business dealings are as shady as his personal ones, turns out, and he's eager to sell his company before anyone realizes he's been cooking the books. An accident and a cover-up straight from the pages of Bonfire of the Vanities further undo Robert's good-guy façade. There's not a trace of ambiguity or moral complexity here—yes, Arbitrage functions as a reminder that rich people play by different rules than the rest of us. But so was watching the Republican National Convention, so is reading a newspaper, and so is being a reasonably attentive member of society. by Alison Hallett