Masterminds - I geni della truffa

Stories about stupid criminals are funny. And when those stories are true, besides laughing, we find ourselves shaking our heads in mocking disbelief. Just think about how many times you've read such stories in an Email or heard them on the radio or on TV and how amused you were picturing what was being described. Well, "Masterminds" (PG-13, 1:34) brings us a true story of stupid criminals in vivid detail – helped along by some of the funniest actors in movies today – including a few "Saturday Night Live" veterans. This ensemble comedically dramatizes the true story of a 1997 North Carolina Loomis Fargo robbery, which remains one of the biggest heists in U.S. history. Although the script by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey, along with the direction of Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite", "Nacho Libre") and the comic stylings of the talented cast, adds a significant amount of humor to the action, the film's story and many of its details stick very close to the facts of the case.

David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) is a clumsy and socially awkward, but basically honest and well-meaning armored car driver in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is engaged to the even more awkward and self-centered trailer park dwelling Jandice (played with a sort of catatonic glee by SNL's Kate McKinnon), but David has fallen for his fellow driver, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig). Kelly lives (also in a mobile home) with an old friend named Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and his wife, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). When Steve hears on the news about a recent Loomis Fargo robbery, he hatches a scheme to use Kelly's connection to David to get him to rob Charlotte's Loomis Fargo. Kelly is reluctant to play on David's affections, but she'd love to get a share of that money and David is tempted by the promise of a new life with Kelly down in Mexico. After Kelly "trains" David for the things that he'll have to do to commit the robbery (and how to possibly "live off the land" until it's "safe" for Kelly to join him in Mexico), and with the help of a few other down-on-their-luck (and none-too-bright) co-conspirators, the plan is all set.

Let the comedic missteps begin! David is a trusted employee with keys to a Loomis Fargo vault, which he accesses after hours. In spite of his natural clumsiness and lack of logical thinking, David somehow manages to load a van with a fortune in bundled bills and gets the vehicle to his fellow criminals waiting outside. They stash the cash, giving David a few thousand dollars (stuffed into his underwear) for his flight to Mexico, where he thinks that he'll soon be reunited with Kelly. Back in North Carolina, an FBI agent (played by SNL's Leslie Jones) knows that David did the deed and she's working hard to piece together the rest of the puzzle. Steve gets nervous and decides to take out a contract on David, hiring an old friend turned hit man, Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis) for the job. Mike turns out to be a pretty unhinged hit man and his trip to Mexico in search of David ends up being a comedy of errors. David eventually figures out that he's the patsy and does his best to turn the tables on his partners in crime.

"Masterminds" is a hilarious send-up of that real-life heist from the late 90s. And not all comedies that depict real-life stupid criminals do the job this well. (See 2013's unfunny "Pain & Gain". And by "see", I mean as an example. Don't actually watch the movie.) This script's enhancements to the true story make for good plotting and make great use of the cast's significant and diverse comedic talents. The humor comes from a combination of the colorful characters' personality traits, Galifianakis' talent for slapstick, some gross-out humor and a lot of good old fashioned stupid criminal mistakes. The movie never oversells its characters or its humor, even actually keeping some moments too low-key. Not all the jokes work, but there are plenty of great sight gags and other laugh-out-loud moments that make this movie exactly what such cinematic experiences are supposed to be – fun. "A-"

First of all, I just can't believe that this movie was based on a true story. It left me captivated to a point of going back to do research on the real story. I wanted to see pictures of these people in person. I just had to laugh while reading some of it.

After doing research on the real story, I found the movie to be very balanced in that it tried to find a humorous way to tell the story. I think that they actually pulled it off. Was it laugh out loud comedy? No...but entertaining, Certainly. It isn't something that I'd ever watch again, but I didn't feel as if it were a complete and total waste of time. There were a few funny moments and in some moments, I even felt sorry for the main character. It will definitely hold your interest. Worth a movie rental.

Am I surprised Masterminds only gets a 5.8 rating on here? Not really as comedies are the most difficult movies to rate. We just don't all have the same sense of humor so what is funny to someone looks dumb to another. I'm on the side of the people that had great fun watching this biography/comedy. Based on a true story, although I have serious doubts about some events that took place in this movie. It doesn't really matter though, more than 17 million of dollars have been stolen, by amateurs, and those are enough ingredients to create a funny movie. Certainly with a cast like this one, all comedians that I really appreciate watching. Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, Kate McKinnon and Jason Sudeikis are all actors that know how to make people laugh and it shows. Great cast and good acting from all of them. The story is quite unbelievable what makes it entertaining. I'm sure I won't be the only one that will definitely watch this movie again in the future, when I need some good laughs to cheer me up.

Jared Hess (the director) is someone who doesn't believe in the usual comedic mould.

His vision of comedy is obscure in that he doesn't want us to laugh at the obvious slapstick.

He wants us to cringe a little at the truth behind his laughs.

While it's true that in the end comedies need to make us guffaw, chuckle, snicker, titter and chortle; the real art of comedy is to make us feel the pain of our protagonist.

I think in this regard, Jared Hess has achieved something rare.

A comedic protagonist who is very real and flawed and sad.

His sadness makes us laugh because of how bleak his existence is.

We feel for him and wish him all the best. I feel that people who don't get this movie are afraid of humanness in others.

That's why people are idiots. Because they see comedies as an excuse to simply laugh mindlessly at absurd plot lines. Comedies are also commentaries on the human condition. In spite of being marketed as slapstick, Masterminds is a film about a fragile soul in a dangerous world. Since making such a film a drama would turn away crowds in droves, the film maker re-framed it as something of a tragic comedy.

My heart felt for this hero who is at once self-deluded and incredibly sensitive.

If you have ever understood unconditional love, you might find something to love in Masterminds too.

Despite having comedy juggernauts like Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudekis and Leslie Jones (The people who made me laugh other than...), Zach Galifianakis was the powerhouse genius that made this movie flow. When he was not on the screen, it did not flow like when he was on, and he was always on. He played stupid so brilliantly that he will have you busting a gut uncontrollably. The more dimwitted the funner it got.

Proving the It's so funny it's true statement is correct, Galifianakis leads an ensemble cast in a story based on true events about a security guard leading a boring life about to marry the only woman who would have him (Played hilariously by Kate Mckinnon) until his co-worker (Kristen Wiig) used her lady charm to convince him to help her friend (Played Owen Wilson, but not in his best role) rob their employer. Now he's on the run from The FBI (Played by the Hilarious, Leslie Jones), and a hit man hired to keep him from talking (Played by also Hilarious Jason Sudekis).

It's a pretty well laid out heist movie, but I got to say, it has so many comic masterminds in it you'd expect that I would laugh so hard, I die of it, but the only real worthy laughs come from Zach Galifinakis, who took the simplistic and turned it into comic gold. It's good enough just to see him do that.