Italian Job, The

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It is, as with any cinematic joy ride, not the destination that matters, but the rush of getting there.

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.

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.

Variety Robert Koehler

The forthcoming line of high-octane summer entertainments will be hard-pressed to top this one for both thrills and wit.

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is just the movie for two hours of mindless escapism on a relatively skilled professional level.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Fits squarely into the "exciting" category; it's a white-knuckler of the first order.

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.

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The Italian Job isn't a masterpiece, but it gets the job done.

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Zooms along with confidence, smarts, and some of the coolest car chases this side of the Indy 500.

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.

The New Yorker David Denby

Good summer fun, but it’s 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Essentially an old-fashioned movie, nothing fancy, nothing new, just some jokes and some action and a crowd-pleasing finale.

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.

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, we’re left with theft and this movie just gets away with it.

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.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

After concocting one tense crime at the beginning, the writers can't do any better than to imitate it later.

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.

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.

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.

Premiere Scott Warren

There are popcorn pictures and there are microwave popcorn pictures. The Italian Job is best saved for the living room.

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.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A triumph for the machines, more proof that we do indeed live in the Matrix.