Caffeinated Clint
By Clint Morris
Flawless? No, but the new Demi Moore/Michael Caine staring heist thriller definitely isn’t as riddled with holes as the unfortunate grade on the Rotten Tomatoes website might have you believe.
The reason the Brit pic may have received unripe marks from much of the reviewing community is because of it’s sloppy second half – and it’s only noticeable because the first half of the film, the execution, is so darn good. The knot is tied tight right up until the one-hour mark at which time the loose becomes noose and tangle by tangle, all the good is slowly undone. What starts out as something along the lines of an ”Ocean’s Eleven” or ”Inside Man” instead transforms into something you might see on the Hallmark channel – or even still, on a repeat of a Perry Mason mystery. It’s as if pages 61-95 were missing from the script, and director Michael Radford had to make it up on the spot.
There’s still a lot here to like though, not the least of which are the performances of Caine and Moore – a reunion of sorts, considering they shared the screen in 1983’s ”Blame it on Rio”. Caine is his usual brilliant self, playing an elderly janitor for a jewelery company circa 1960s, who entices a dissatisfied female employee (Moore) into helping him steal the company product.
Though Caine is obviously the more talented of the two, the always-underrated Moore gives quite a good turn as the seemingly discontent company-woman who finds herself in two minds over her involvement in a large scale scam to steal millions in jewels. Unfortunately, the start and end of the film feature Moore in ghastly old-lady make-up (the woman is telling her story to a journalist), and like the film’s big twist, it just about puts you off the rest of the picture.
A fun, though flawed, showcase for the always-dependable Michael Caine.
Extras
Not surprisingly, considering what a flash in the pan the movie is, there’s nothing.
