WISE Score
IMDb
A Kentucky gambler hits Los Angeles to face his past, but mostly just finds trouble with a mercurial Hollywood drug dealer.
5
Skip this one. It's a gritty, low-budget indie drama that doesn't offer much beyond standard crime tropes. With a 5.0 IMDb rating and themes centered on gambling and drug deals, it's neither for kids nor for adults looking for high-quality cinema.
There are dozens of better 'outsider in LA' crime movies that handle these themes with more skill and impact. Unless you are specifically looking for this exact 2018 film, your time is better spent elsewhere.
Strictly for adults. The combination of gambling, drug-related tension, and heavy adult drama makes this entirely inappropriate for children and likely boring for most teens.
The plot centers on gambling, drug dealing, and 'demons past,' which is the opposite of wholesome content.
A standard 'troubled man in LA' indie trope that doesn't appear to break new creative ground.
Themes of drug dealing and gambling make this inappropriate for children or younger teens.
The low audience and critic reception suggests it lacks the depth or craft to be particularly enriching.
Runner (2018) fits into a very specific niche of indie filmmaking: the gritty, low-budget crime drama that feels like it was made in the 1990s but released in the 2010s. The story of a Kentucky gambler heading to the West Coast to confront his past is a classic setup, but the execution here falls flat.
When a movie has a 5.0 on IMDb, it usually means the script or the pacing didn't land with the audience. In the world of indie crime, that often translates to long scenes of people talking in dark rooms or cars without much narrative payoff.
If you're looking for this kind of vibe but with better writing, you'd be better off with something like Hard Eight or even the more recent The Card Counter. Those films actually explore the psychology of gambling and regret without feeling like a budget-bin rental. Runner stays on the surface, leaning on a 'mercurial drug dealer' character to provide tension that never quite feels earned.
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