Coin Heist

There are enough things inherent in "Coin Heist" that it really shouldn't work. The plot is outlandish, the ending descends into schmaltz, and (at heart) it's a teen coming-of-age drama (not like there are any of those floating around these days). However, despite all the unevenness and clichés, "Coin Heist" still manages to at least be entertaining due to the great acting and slickness of the setup.

For a basic plot summary (no spoilers), "Coin Heist" sees Jason (Alex Saxon) struggling with the reality that his father has been stealing from his high school's endowment, leaving the father in prison and the school in danger of shutting down. After a field trip to the U.S. mint, however, Jason's friend Alice (Alexis G. Zall), a hacker at heart and in skill, devises a plan to infiltrate the mint and print some rare coins that can be sold to save the school. The plan will only work, however, if they can also rope in organization queen Dakota (Sasha Pieterse) and outsider Benny (Jay Walker).

For the first half or so of "Coin Heist", I was invested in the characters and their mission. The producers do a great job of setting up the backgrounds of each character, and I really felt like they could be real high-schoolers. Sure, their mission is highly improbable, but that's what cinema is all about, right?!

The problem, however, is that after that roughly half-way point my investment really started to wane for two reasons:

1. The build-up to the caper was much more interesting than the caper itself; and 2. I felt that the ending descending into a bit too much hijinx and corniness for my liking. I realize this is a film directed at teens, so perhaps it plays a bit better to that demographic, but for an older viewer it seemed like a bit of a letdown to build up these great characters and then have them, in most cases, succumb to the tropes of the genre I was afraid would happen from the get-go.

So, while I can easily give "Coin Heist" a slightly-better-than-average 6 out of 10 stars here, I feel that it failed to take that "next step" into the greatness range due to its "running out of steam" in the latter portion. The target audience (teens) may disagree with me here, of course.

United by dire circumstances, four unlikely allies from a Philadelphia prep school - the hacker, the slacker, the athlete, and the perfect student - band together to attempt the impossible: steal from the U.S. Mint.

I was drawn to this film because the director is somewhat of a celebrated figure. Everyone, myself included, is waiting to see if this apparently child prodigy makes a big name for herself in the world of film. So far she has done alright, but has not landed that one big hit quite yet.

This film goes through the motions, but ultimately could have been something made for ABC Family. I wish the "heist" part of the film had more punch. The danger is never really played up, and the consequences never seem all that dire, even though this must be an awfully illegal thing to even plan, let alone follow through on.

If you can appreciate a decent heist story pulled of by decent teenage characters, without Hollywood production values, then you should really give this a try.

Emily Hagins wrote and directed and I think she did a fine job with the adaptation from a novel. The narrative had a strong even pace and it never dragged. The young actors gave it their all, and I think they pulled it off just fine.

Don't be too critical of these small indie efforts, and you'll find a gem or two. "Coin Heist" may not have the huge budget that the "Oceans" series had, but the story was just as interesting and just as well told.

Enjoy it.

The premise is wonderful, the actuality of the script is bonkers. Unlike another reviewer here I do not find Netflix Originals groundbreaking in totality They are some of the worst put together movies I have ever seen. They are even starting to produce Lifetime-like movies only using b-c list actors instead of f-g list ones. This movie is watchable however... not mad at it. Just absurd in the sense that none of this could really happen.

"Coin Heist" has so much potential given the premise. Four students endeavor to save their school financially by breaking into a US government mint and producing "error" coins that can be sold for millions. As it turns out, the father of one of these students embezzled $10M from the school's endowment fund, necessitating the operation.

Given the interesting and promising premise, this film could have been so much better. Instead, it is bogged down with horrible and banal dialogue that takes the audience nowhere. Also, there are scenes that are downright silly--the US government mint's only security seems to be two inept guards at the front desk and nothing else. Four teens can wander around the mint in this post 9/11 world without being questioned or even noticed. There doesn't even appear to be any cameras in place. How convenient, if you're a teen wanting to rob the place. There are also overly done stereotypes, the black kid from the wrong side of the tracks who is harassed by the rich white kid and the angst-ridden computer nerd.

Overall, the cast does a pretty good job with the material they are given; they are believable in their roles. Unfortunately, they are mired in a movie that just doesn't work.