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Italian Job, The

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 37 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 51 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Troy Kennedy-Martin (1969 screenplay)
Neal Purvis
Robert Wade
Donna Powers and Wayne Powers
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 30, 2003
DVD: October 7, 2003
Running Time: 104 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for violence and some language
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, Donald Sutherland, Christina Cabot, and Franky G.
In this is a remake of the 1969 British caper comedy, Mark Whalberg stars as Charlie Croker, the leader of a band of thieves planning the ultimate heist.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Man Apart Be Cool Friday The Negotiator
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
The chase scenes in The Italian Job are the most exciting ones I can remember seeing in a movie in a long time, probably because they're the only ones I can remember -- and that's saying something.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
A fast and furious action-adventure. The film's comedy counts for as much as the clever and risky ways in which Wahlberg and company go after the nasty Norton, who has holed up in a Bel-Air mansion with a world-class security system.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
Less giddy and more cohesive than the original, the film doesn't waste time, plunging almost directly into a spectacular heist.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
It's more like the déjà vu machine. But that does not negate this movie's copious pleasures, chief among them its prudent decision to act like it's never supposed to be more than good time, a thrilling test-drive in a car you love but can't afford to actually buy.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The best car commercial ever, an absolute triumph of product placement, and great fun as a movie in the bargain.
Slate David Edelstein
A pandering, debased, generic little nothing of a movie. And I'm still trying to figure out why I loved it so inordinately.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
For two hours, the bliss of the brainless fluff is yours for the asking. It cheerfully puts the escape back in escapism.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It is, as with any cinematic joy ride, not the destination that matters, but the rush of getting there.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
An elaborate techno-heist thriller, The Italian Job features some spectacular chase scenes, but for a change, the people doing the chasing are also worth watching.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Powers
Not only are the action sequences well-paced and witty, but Gray neatly draws out the comic high spirits in Wahlberg's ensemble of crooks.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
The forthcoming line of high-octane summer entertainments will be hard-pressed to top this one for both thrills and wit.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A zippy, energetic, automotive free-for-all, a caper extravaganza minus the bleak overtones that have come to figure in so many 9mm movies these days.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is just the movie for two hours of mindless escapism on a relatively skilled professional level.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Fits squarely into the "exciting" category; it's a white-knuckler of the first order.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
This is pure entertainment but smart entertainment, plotted and executed with invention and humor and acted by a winning cast radiating good-movie energy.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Norton is unapologetic and unflappable in his part. Slimy and vaguely nerdy, he's become the thinking man's thug, even if this character's Armani-wear is better tailored than his psychology.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Italian Job isn't a masterpiece, but it gets the job done.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Sometimes, when you least expect it, Hollywood is so Hollywood good, serving up a flick guaranteed to answer the clarion call of the multitudes. "I just want to be entertained," you say? Well, fork out then, because The Italian Job does the job.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Zooms along with confidence, smarts, and some of the coolest car chases this side of the Indy 500.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's an entertaining picture, classy and well executed, but as much as any film I've seen recently, this lush new version of the 1969 Michael Caine thriller tends to prove that, where thrillers are concerned, "more" is often less.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Good summer fun, but its only about two-thirds the picture it could have been. Since Edward Norton has nothing to play against, the rivalry at the heart of the movie never heats up. [16 & 23 June 2003, p. 200]
The New York Times Stephen Holden
Feels a like smooth, exciting whoosh down a ski slope.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Satisfying in a purely infantile way, and the familiarity of everything is oddly comforting. In terms of action, moreover, this makes "The Matrix Reloaded" look like a clodhopper's jamboree.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
There's a fair amount of filler in The Italian Job, but it all boils down to the big heist, which has been staged as if it were Fort Knox being robbed by Evel Knievel.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
Manages to be a solid, though not exceptional, heist movie with a good-looking cast and -- maybe -- even better-looking cars.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Charlize Theron, playing the one woman member of the team, handily steals the movie from the guys with her no-nonsense display of verve and vulnerability.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Essentially an old-fashioned movie, nothing fancy, nothing new, just some jokes and some action and a crowd-pleasing finale.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A slicker, faster-paced, high-tech upgrade that lifts the sprightly spirit and the main action set piece from the original while developing its own twists and a new ending that, though a bit too pat and eager to please, is a vast improvement.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Robert Learner
Heist movies seem pretty quaint and analog in our era where high stakes crime is primarily electronic in nature. But until someone can make embezzlement cinematically interesting, were left with theft and this movie just gets away with it.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Even if it weren't a remake, The Italian Job would still look startlingly unoriginal, but in a summer that promises plenty of sold-out showings, it could be the season's breakout pretty-okay-second-choice film.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
After concocting one tense crime at the beginning, the writers can't do any better than to imitate it later.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Watching The Italian Job in a theater makes you long for a fast-forward button - to skip past 90 eyeball-glazing minutes of generic caper plotting and cut to the chase, as it were.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Do yourself a favor and resist The Italian Job, a lazy and in-name-only remake of 1969's G-rated Michael Caine heist pic.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This version moves like a freight train, but suffers from a debilitating charm deficit. Wahlberg is no Michael Caine and Norton delivers what must be the sourest, most lifeless performance of his career to date.
Read Full Review >Premiere Scott Warren
There are popcorn pictures and there are microwave popcorn pictures. The Italian Job is best saved for the living room.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Zesty in a workmanlike sort of way, providing supporting henchmen Jason Statham and Mos Def with pleasingly unsensational characters given to subtle twitches of idiosyncrasy.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
A triumph for the machines, more proof that we do indeed live in the Matrix.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Myles #13 gave it a9:
Fantastic movie... every actor/actress fit the mould perfectly. Plot was neat, chase scenes and special effects were sweet, lines were witty... The Italian Job is a really entertaining movie! After multiple plays, I am still not bored of it. MUST SEE!
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Not much of a story, but great fun (especially the Mini chase scene). Also makes you htink harder about that rich neighb or next doors: how did they really get their money?
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Not much of a story, but great fun (especially the Mini chase scene). Also makes you htink harder about that rich neighb or next doors: how did they really get their money?
Captain Craig gave it a7:
Maybe not a continder for an Oscar, but entertaining nevertheless.
Vikram M. gave it a 10:
Great movie. Funny, smart, nice, and action packed. The acting was good, storyline good. It was good, nice movie, I laughed, and I was into it. Good movie.
Matt C. gave it a 10:
Cool.
Andrew M. gave it a 9:
Reading through the comments for this film, I wonder just what some people want to get from films they watch. For me, it's entertainment every time. And this remake of The Italian Job delivers big time! I loved it. Whether or not you have seen the original, get it out, kick back, forget everything, and have a blast! If you don't then you're mighty hard to please. (Ohh, and Bill J, I think you're confused...)
