SummaryCrunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell), a third rate motorcycle daredevil and semi-reformed art thief, agrees to get back into the con game and pull off one final lucrative art theft with his untrustworthy brother, Nicky (Matt Dillon). Reassembling the old team, Crunch comes up with a plan to steal a priceless historical book, but the successful ...
SummaryCrunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell), a third rate motorcycle daredevil and semi-reformed art thief, agrees to get back into the con game and pull off one final lucrative art theft with his untrustworthy brother, Nicky (Matt Dillon). Reassembling the old team, Crunch comes up with a plan to steal a priceless historical book, but the successful ...
The Art of the Steal won’t trick audiences into thinking they’ve seen anything new, but it’s just clever enough to keep them distracted from realizing that they haven’t.
The first five minutes is a bit uneven, but the good news is...this is a very good movie with great dialogue.
The banter between Jason jones and Terrance Stamp is priceless. Sure, it is a heist movie, but a decent one with a nice finish. The cast is Stellar. I hope Weinstein gives the writer/director another chance.
While not polished, this rough gem is worth a viewing for any Terrance Stamp fan.
The Art of the Steal is pretty good movie. It's form is much like Ocean's Eleven, which is actually ok for me. There also were moments, which made me laugh, but movie is not action-constant. In other words, its boring for 45 minutes and fun for 45 minutes. If the movie was so nice as ending, i'd go 9 but now 7.
Sobol, directing his second feature, should have been able to prod this story to life, especially considering the cast he was provided. But everything proceeds in such an orderly fashion, right through the ostensibly 'twist' ending, that maintaining interest is a serious challenge.
As is often the case in these caper flicks, there’s too much plot for insufficient dramatic effect, and alert viewers will suss out where it’s all heading in the first five minutes.
The film is made up of plundered parts from the "Oceans" series and "The Usual Suspects," and—like several of the forged tomes that figure in the plot — it’s a pale imitation.
The two half-brothers and the art heist.
I like heist movies, once they were making great ones, but not anymore. I have heard about this, though haven't seen it till now. Seems it's a decent film, but came at the wrong time of the history. You know, the same film 15-20 years ago would have made a better impact among people, as well as commercially. Nowadays, the youngsters want only superhero action-sci-fi films. That should not be the reason for a film's failure. Instead, they should have improved it in lots of areas. But still I liked a few things from it, like the information about mixing the real art with the fake ones, but still it remains as the real.
The film is about two half-brothers. They are the art thieves and they have done many jobs together, but in their final one, one of them betrays. So the rest of the narration sets in a few years later when they join hands for another big art heist sidelining their differences. They form a big team and this time they are watchful over each other. Now comes the final act where the actual event takes place and with a twist the story comes to an end.
An enjoyable film, little funny and had some good moments, But overall film was predictable, including the twist. Could be the director's best film so far. Kurt Russell was just okay, but expected a lot. The rest of the cast in this multi-starrer, does not look good, though contributed. Maybe the film characters were weaker than the story. They should have focused more on them to progress it, so it would have achieved the success they were looking for than what a few people praising it. I think it's okay for a watch with the low expectation.
6/10
I knew it. The Art of Steal is smart as hell but filled with dumb dialogue and screenplay. Story is average- nothing more than stealing a book with Kurt Russell and Matt Dillon (who's heist flick TAKERS was atrocious). This movie also stars Jay Baruschel, which in my opinion is the funniest in the movie itself. The Art of Steal is an average, lukewarm film that's a full on 5/10 by any means.
2/5★ An obvious imitation of other, better heist films, the film does have a strong cast but its wasted on this B-level forgettable film.
Verdict: Timewaster.
A good heist flick requires 1 of 4 things: clever plotting, snappy dialogue, unusual settings or cool characters. This by-the-numbers version has zero. Kurt Russell and his estranged brother (Matt Dillon) team up for one final, big art scam with the inevitable, obvious twists. While it moves along steadily and the actors do OK, nothing about the writing or direction is a standout. The quick outtakes in the credits are funnier than anything in the movie.