acceptable caper film

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2005)

This film is one of those that gets such a slow start that I considered giving up on it. In spite of the presence of Donald Sutherland, the first half hour is a rather dull setup for what follows.
Fortunately, the movie picks up as planning starts for the caper that is the centerpiece of the film. I developed some hope for the movie during a series of vignettes introducing members of the gang. From then on things were pretty good, and the extended caper sequence itself was quite entertaining.
Still, the movie feels hollow. Theron is unconvincing, simply because she looks like she just stepped out of a shampoo commercial. The cars in the movie all have that shiny look of something in a car commercial. It's not that I object to glossy caper films; the 1960s was very good at those, but this movie lacks the overall polish so the glossy slick elements don't feel integrated into the whole. Generating little feeling for its protagonists, the film is somewhat entertaining for the most part but completely insubstantial.