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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Benjamin Lee

The Benefactor review – bland thriller begins charitably but skimps on depth

Scarf ace … Richard Gere and Theo James in The Benefactor.
Scarf ace … Richard Gere and Theo James in The Benefactor. Photograph: Allstar/Arrow Films

You wait so long for a drama about a dishevelled looking Richard Gere losing his mind and suddenly two come along in two weeks. Before we see him as a homeless man in Time Out of Mind, he’s at the opposite end of the wealth and class spectrum in this undercooked potboiler. He plays a rich philanthropist who embeds himself in the lives of a young couple (a sorely underused Dakota Fanning and a somewhat overused Theo James) and soon outstays his welcome. It’s a handsomely made but ultimately empty film that fails to deliver on its initial sense of unease, veering frustratingly between psychological thriller and addiction PSA. Gere is committed but his character becomes increasingly annoying, with a one-note tortured past, and the script leaves him and his underwritten co-stars stranded with a pat ending.

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