The Art of the Steal - L'arte del furto

I decided to review this one because some of the other reviews are slightly miss leading. I do not pretend in any way to be a film critic... Just your every day regular movie goer/watcher, and as such I must admit I really really enjoyed this one. It has enough twists and turns to keep you hooked till the end and delivers a nice sense of humor throughout the whole movie. Yes, maybe the movie did try a bit too much to be a type of Guy Ritchie meets Ocean's Eleven, but I wouldn't necessarily say that's bad, and I wouldn't say it failed at it either. Bottom line, if you are considering watching it don't think it over too much, go for it and enjoy it, I guarantee it'll have you hooked into the first 10 minutes.

Motorcycle rider Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell) is in a crew with his half-brother Nicky Calhoun (Matt Dillon), Paddy MacCarthy (Kenneth Welsh), and forger Guy (Chris Diamantopoulos). Their mark is Stash Bartkowiak who had a stolen Gauguin from an Oslo gallery. They are discovered and Nicky rats out Crunch. Seven years in a Polish prison (5 1/2 with good behavior) later, Crunch is out and out of crime for good. He's daredevil motorcycle riding working with his girlfriend Lola (Katheryn Winnick) and apprentice Francie Tobin (Jay Baruchel). Interpol Agent Bick (Jason Jones) is after a stolen Seurat with the help of informant Samuel Winter (Terence Stamp). Nicky outsmarts them and double cross Sunny who then threatens Crunch for his money. Crunch is pulled back in with Nicky.

There are too many capers and too many complicated expositions. Writer/director Jonathan Sobol has pack this in with so many characters. It's a lower grade Guy Ritchie in Canada. He is starting to solidify his style along with 'A Beginner's Guide to Endings'. However this is a little bit too ambitious for him. Dillon-Russell anchors it with a complicated cute relationship. There are some funny bits, some fun dialog, and a whole lot of fun-like wacky. There is a particularly funny art piece. In the end, it just needs more comedy and a more simplified story.

The heist genre is old, so what is new and worth watching about this particular heist movie? The jokes. They are really sharp, fast, original and witty. And those jokes are delivered by a bunch of great actors: Matt Dillon, Kurt Russell and a delightful cool, calm and collected Terence Stamp. They all act really good.

The story is tight and fast moving and funny. Kurt Russell plays a gangster in need of money. Well, that´s news! He desperately needs money though and that's the reason he agrees to do an impossibly difficult heist. Will he succeed anyway?

Any bad? It's a bit too clever for the sake of wanting to be clever. And it's still a copycat of Ocean's Eleven, but an enjoyable copycat...

What a great ride!

I'm Canadian, and nothing kills me more (being a Canadian) than saying that there is an undeniably 'crappy' feel to most, if not all, Canadian productions. That being said, this movie was actually really good. Great performances from most of the cast, really great to see Kenneth Welsh and Terence Stamp adding some credibility to whole thing.

As far as heist movies go, this one is fairly typical but the production/editing really pull it together. Kurt Russell does a great job along with Baruchel and Winnick and my usual aversion to Matt Dillon was even kept in check to some degree. Nice little twist-up at the end even if it was somewhat predictable. Also Some pretty funny scenes and exchanges, especially if you watch the outtakes in the credits.

All in all a great film with a surprisingly good feel.

Another heist movie with a little bit of humor. Why not? If I had to choose between the Ocean's heist movies and The Art of the Steal I would go for this one. It's basically the same, a heist explained by a narrating voice, but this time with a touch of humor. Not that you will laugh a lot or so, well at least I didn't, but it was an easy movie to watch. Not too much complicated entertainment for a laid back movie night. The cast is good, the conversations between the two brothers played by Russell and Dillon are fun to watch. In the middle of the movie I thought it was going down a bit but the end saved it all. There are enough good twists to make this movie better then the average heist movie.