It was an inspired bit of casting for writer-director Guy Ritchie to make former heartthrob Hugh Grant the weasely linchpin of his British caper flick “The Gentlemen” (2020). Ritchie brings a unique style to this type of film and Grant proves to be a worthy air traffic controller as scenes cut from one character’s perspective to another and back and forth across time. Matthew McConaughey is trying to sell his (illegal) business and he thinks he has a buyer, but cutthroat hijinks ensue. There’s bullets, blood and belly-laughs – sometimes all at once. Ritchie makes it look easier than it is.
Archives for posts with tag: caper flicks
There are a lot of reasons why a film can be lousy. Perhaps the worst one is laziness. “The Con is On” (2018) is a limited-release bomb of a caper flick. The caper stinks (stolen loot, a psychopathic Russian, a big jewel, whatever). Uma Thurman looks spectacular and gives the impression of effort as a con artist with a checkered past, but her husband is Tim Roth doing a half-assed Dudley Moore impersonation. Crispin Glover plays himself as a bipolar director. Everyone else sucks and is not worth mentioning, except Parker Posey, who is horrific as a whacked-out movie flunky.
When I picked up a copy of “The Hurricane Heist” (2018), the first thing I thought of was “Sharknado.” But while “Sharknado” was totally committed to being the B-est of all B movies, this film is trying to be a caper flick, a disaster flick and God knows what else (What the hell is Ben Cross from “Chariots of Fire” doing as an Alabama sheriff?). So we get preposterous science, melodrama worthy of an animated graphic novel, a plot as worn out as the discarded paper money being stolen, absolutely cheesy special effects and not nearly enough B movie joy.
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