Glimmerubro
It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Donald Seymour
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
moonspinner55
After a distant cousin comes to stay with him, one-time safe-cracker Christopher Walken is lured into taking one more heist assignment. Too-familiar story nevertheless has interesting elements, both funny and dramatic. This safe-cracker has not come far in the last decade: he has to rent a fancy car as a ruse, his cousin is a crafty but green accomplice, and the two security guards in on the scheme are schnooks. Mildly enjoyable despite an overall feeling of lethargy and predictability. Cast is strong, with Walken doing his usual even, solid work and Cyndi Lauper (of all people) very attractive as a no-nonsense bar-proprietress. ** from ****
zzoaozz
I really wasn't sure that i would like this movie when I sat down to watch it. The premise, an ex-con decides to pull one last heist because he's so far in debt at the urging of a relative, just didn't seem too interesting. Being a big Christopher Walken fan, I decided to watch it anyway. I was captured immediately. You see Walken's character, Vic, doing his best to be an honest mechanic, to pay his bills, to keep his ailing mother in a decent home instead of the state hospital, and make a life with his daughter and girlfriend. The poor guy seems to destroy everything he touches, the pain and self-accusation in his face when a client makes a remark about being a screw-up makes you want to cry for Vic. Financial and emotional pressures mount until he agrees to do a final job. Because of this, he loses the most important things in his life, his girlfriend and his self-respect. I won't spoil the rest of the movie, but as events spiral out of control, you want to catch Vic yourself, make it all better, take him out of such a cruel, hopeless world. The ending was a surprise too. You feel sure there can be no good resolution to the whole thing, but there is. You'll have to watch it yourself. It is a touching movie, the characterization is excellent. The morals presented aren't the best, but it is still a wonderful movie.
George Parker
The poker-faced Walken character is at the center of this mildly entertaining look into the life of an insolvent ex-safe cracker. A journeyman film at best, the Walken character seems to care so little about his life that it is difficult for the audience to care as well creating a rift between audience and character and resulting in a story which is about as flat as warm beer.
max31
This is worth taking a look at. Walken does a commendable job as the small-time crook, now out and self-employed, trying to stay honest fixing cars in a garage. Cindi Lauper is good, piling on a thick NYC accent, first time I've seen her in a movie. She's likeable, very grounded in the movie. The supporting cast is very real. The result is, you don't like many of them a lot. They're average people, and we see them in less than flattering scenes. To that extent, you do like them because they're dealing the best way they know with events.The movie works, in part because of what it doesn't do. It doesn't make us endure one of those speeches the wife or girlfriend or best pal gives the ex-con, just before he's about to commit to one more heist. Here, Lauper just tells Walken to hit the road, she knows somethings up, and it's gonna spoil the plans they made. Very low-key. No need to get into melodrama, everybody knows the Walken character, they're not going to change his mind with wailing.I wouldn't drive across town to see the film, but if it's convenient, this is a good character study. It has some humor, too, but only as a byproduct of things going on, not a goal. The tone of it reminded me of the movie, Thief, but only in the sense that we're watching people who live in a realm most of us never go. I'd rather see this kind of movie than another one of those idiotic gross-out comedies.
