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Ladrón que roba a ladrón
Lionsgate

Ladrón que roba a ladrón reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 61 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 11 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 8 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language and some sexual content

Starring Fernando Colunga, Miguel Varoni, Saúl Lisazo, Ivonne Montero, Oscar Torres, Ruben Garfias, Gabriel Soto, and Julie Gonzalo

A heist movie in the classic Hollywood tradition, Ladrón que roba a ladrón follows two crack thieves, Emilio and Alejandro, who reunite to rob the biggest thief they know – Moctesuma Valdez, a TV infomercial guru who’s made millions selling worthless health products to poor Latino immigrants. Valdez’s empire is next to impossible to infiltrate. But Emilio and Alejandro know if they go undercover as day laborers – chauffeurs, gardeners, maids, and repairmen – they can rob Valdez blind right under his nose. It’s a perfect plan…except that no one on their team wants the job. Refusing to give up, Emilio and Alejandro come up with a solution so insane it might just work – use real day laborers. Within days, they form a team of criminal amateurs with just the right skills. There’s Julio, a TV repair shop employee who’s also an electronics expert, Rafa and Rafaela, a valet and his mechanic daughter in charge of transportation, Miguelito, a Cuban refugee actor and master of disguises, and the metro-sexual ditch digger, Anival, who plays the token heavy. None of them has ever committed a crime in their lives, but this motley crew of underdogs – so often taken for granted – is ready to face impossible odds and “receive 100 years of forgiveness.” Full of humor and heart, Ladrón que roba a ladrón proves that being underestimated is sometimes your best advantage. (Lions Gate)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Adventure  
WRITTEN BY: JoJo Henrickson  
DIRECTED BY: Joe Menendez  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 29, 2008 
Theatrical: August 31, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 
LANGUAGE(S): Spanish 

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...

75
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Ladron plays like a telenovela without the melodrama. The characters are brightly drawn archetypes, and the humor's very broad. But the tone is nice and brash.
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75
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Entertaining, casually satirical crowd-pleaser.
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75
USA Today Claudia Puig
There's a new heist film in town that follows the conventions of the genre and then adds a couple of fresh and endearing twists.
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75
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This good-natured genre piece gets the job done while sneaking in a couple of pointed observations about contemporary Latino immigrant life.
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70
The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
An effervescent comedy coasting on the charisma of its stars.
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67
Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
To make an intelligent heist film is difficult work; to shoot an entertaining sociological study is near impossible. To manage both at the same time has got to be some kind of minor miracle.
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60
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The formula works just fine on a more modest scale, without having to carry all the glittering casino sets and A-list movie stars.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
The producers have stated that they're going after an American market that supports Spanish-language TV networks, radio stations and newspapers. This niche audience may well respond to not being required to read subtitles, for once, in a movie geared to them.
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40
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
An obvious "Ocean's Eleven" knockoff, minus any of that franchise's hip sensibility.
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40
LA Weekly Tim Grierson
For a movie whose bad guy bamboozles unsuspecting Latinos with false promises, Ladrón could be cited for precisely the same offense.
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38
Miami Herald Peter Debruge
There's nothing so artistic about it as to attract the same art-house crowd that braved subtitles to discover "Nine Queens," and yet, it's professional enough that Spanish speakers will be glad to have a heist movie on par with "Rush Hour 3" or "The Pacifier" made in their native tongue.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Emma Y. gave it a10:
Best movie ever in Spanish. Clever direction and I love Oscar Torres' performance.

Dang C. gave it a10:
it's a summer Hispanic-crowd pleaser; way better than Rush Hour 3. Doesn't even relate as the biased reviewer wrote. Ocean's Eleven & etc are great heist flick. It doesn't need to take away from a light hearted fun flick as this one was. it's funny and it rides solely on the actors. Like most SUMMER FUN FLICKS. Go, Watch and enjoy. Hopefully, we see more and more films like these throughout the seasons. More Choices in the theaters only enrich the cinemas.

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