Stylish, clever and cool heist flick, but in the end, it's just an empty film with a pretty cover

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2005)

I finally got to see this, after hearing so much positive stuff about it. People were raving about how it was the definition of cool. I believe someone even told me that it rivaled the likes of a Tarantino film. Well, having seen it, I can say that it's definitely got a lot less style than a Tarantino film, and none of the associated substance. It's basically an empty shell, albeit a pretty-looking one. The film has plenty of acting talent, but not even half of it is put to any use. There are just far too many characters, so many of them spend the better part of the film, following their initial introduction, sitting around, not really doing anything at all. Maybe the film should have been Ocean's Five instead... so we actually got some semi-interesting and well-developed characters instead of these cardboard cutouts spouting hip lines every chance they get. The dialog is witty and at times clever, but it's almost entirely superficial. The plot is decent. Another thing is that there's not really anyone to root for; it's a film about dishonest criminals stealing from other dishonest criminals. The pacing is OK. I found the film to be far too long and drawn-out. It could easily have been cut by at least half an hour. Once again, we don't care about these people. Submit any viewer of this movie to a lie detector test and ask if they saw this for the heist or for the characters. If anything less than 90% prove to have seen it entirely for the heist, I'll be very surprised. Then there's all the unneeded scenes, probably done to establish relationships(between the characters that we don't care about). Add to that, the plot holes and completely random actions of some of the characters. This film reminded me of a Danish produced film... Klatretøsen, or Catch That Girl, as it's international title is. It's a children's film, and I found it far more interesting, involving and plausible than this. Note that I didn't claim it was more entertaining. That's what this film is; entertaining. Nothing else. As a matter of fact, you should probably either see the Danish film, or the American remake(which I haven't seen... yet) as you'll probably find more substance in either of them than this film. If you insist on seeing this, just prepare yourself to be underwhelmed and possibly disappointed. I recommend this only to the biggest fans of the stars and people who look for an attractive film rather than a meaningful one. 7/10