No surprises but fun

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2003)

8.5/10
Movies that have no true 'surprises' require something else: something that makes the audience sit back and just enjoy themselves. This one did it just fine, for me anyway; as well as for anybody I went with, who were mostly female, ranging from 21 to 50+.
The Italian Job is probably going to join a list of others on my have-at-home DVD list that I'll probably just watch again and again _because_ it's so basically unproblematic and simple, but fun. No guns in the hands of the protagonists, a nice low-key love story almost from another age of film, a bunch of distinctly drawn characters (even the secondary ones, and who cares if they are 'types': was anybody looking for anything else?), nifty car chases, and...AND!...a very impressive helicopter scene (in the garage: was that flying or WHAT?? - God, I love helicopters!), plus lots of quotable lines that you can anticipate on the next watching and have quizzes about with your friends.
And, what is it with guys complaining about Wahlberg? He's not an 'actor' per se, but I , for one, am not sure that's such a bad thing. I also like his low-key way of coming across. As long as he's not pushed to having to express profound depths of emotion he's just fine- and, to be perfectly honest, I'll watch a movie with him in preference to anything from the go-through-every-emotion Tom Cruise, or, say, the self-important Vin Diesel.
The Italian Job wasn't a 'character piece', and if it had been, it probably would have been considerably less enjoyable.
A popcorn flick?
Yeah, sure. So what?