Another heist movie with a little bit of humor. Why not? If I had to choose between the Ocean's heist movies and The Art of the Steal I would go for this one. It's basically the same, a heist explained by a narrating voice, but this time with a touch of humor. Not that you will laugh a lot or so, well at least I didn't, but it was an easy movie to watch. Not too much complicated entertainment for a laid back movie night. The cast is good, the conversations between the two brothers played by Russell and Dillon are fun to watch. In the middle of the movie I thought it was going down a bit but the end saved it all. There are enough good twists to make this movie better then the average heist movie.
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deloudelouvain24 January 2017
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emv103114 March 2014I decided to review this one because some of the other reviews are slightly miss leading. I do not pretend in any way to be a film critic... Just your every day regular movie goer/watcher, and as such I must admit I really really enjoyed this one. It has enough twists and turns to keep you hooked till the end and delivers a nice sense of humor throughout the whole movie. Yes, maybe the movie did try a bit too much to be a type of Guy Ritchie meets Ocean's Eleven, but I wouldn't necessarily say that's bad, and I wouldn't say it failed at it either. Bottom line, if you are considering watching it don't think it over too much, go for it and enjoy it, I guarantee it'll have you hooked into the first 10 minutes.
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SnoopyStyle12 August 2014Motorcycle rider Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell) is in a crew with his half-brother Nicky Calhoun (Matt Dillon), Paddy MacCarthy (Kenneth Welsh), and forger Guy (Chris Diamantopoulos). Their mark is Stash Bartkowiak who had a stolen Gauguin from an Oslo gallery. They are discovered and Nicky rats out Crunch. Seven years in a Polish prison (5 1/2 with good behavior) later, Crunch is out and out of crime for good. He's daredevil motorcycle riding working with his girlfriend Lola (Katheryn Winnick) and apprentice Francie Tobin (Jay Baruchel). Interpol Agent Bick (Jason Jones) is after a stolen Seurat with the help of informant Samuel Winter (Terence Stamp). Nicky outsmarts them and double cross Sunny who then threatens Crunch for his money. Crunch is pulled back in with Nicky.
There are too many capers and too many complicated expositions. Writer/director Jonathan Sobol has pack this in with so many characters. It's a lower grade Guy Ritchie in Canada. He is starting to solidify his style along with 'A Beginner's Guide to Endings'. However this is a little bit too ambitious for him. Dillon-Russell anchors it with a complicated cute relationship. There are some funny bits, some fun dialog, and a whole lot of fun-like wacky. There is a particularly funny art piece. In the end, it just needs more comedy and a more simplified story. -
JohnDeSando16 March 2014The Art of the Steal doesn't have the class of Ocean's Eleven, Guy Ritchie's eccentric bad boys, nor does it have the wry wit of In Bruges, but it does have enough enthusiasm, convoluted plot, split- screen framing, and seasoned cast anchored by Kurt Russell and Terence Stamp to make this dead-zone time of movie year bearable until May.
This religious texts heist, however, does have some class—art to be specific—and the Seurat original, along with some Mona Lisa recollections, is the main object of the crime. Russell's Crunch Calhoun and Matt Dillon's half-brother Nicky do one last heist, a thriller mainstay that promises much will go wrong before the denouement. Writer- director Jonathan Sobol's double-crosses and cocky hooligans last to the twisted end for a real "last" one.
With Jay Baruchel playing the greenhorn, and therefore the vulnerable part of the plan, fun ensues as he questions the sanity of the plan's convoluted steps. Even more fun is watching a deadpan Terence Stamp play a federal informer whose British accent and considerable knowledge of art inform every suspenseful moment with the exotic, the cultural, and the dangerous.
Part of the joy is trying to figure out where his character fits in with the lawful and the unlawful. Not happy, however, is the over-the-top reactions of Jason Jones' Interpol agent, Bick. Blame director Jonathan Sobol for not seeing the chasm between this sophomoric performance and Stamp's nuanced turn.
Kurt Russell has been in showbiz for at least a half century, and while his face shows some wear, his actorly sensibilities are sharply delivered in a film whose comic moments and frequent plot twists offer a brief respite in a waning but still ornery winter. -
Just saw the movie. It was a very decent movie. You do expect the actors to do what they were suppose to do. Kurt's Elvis was a bit copied from 3000 miles but rest was good. Comedy was good. One thing that was sh*t was the score, I wish they had some better people in music department. Jay was what he is in every movie, a excited kid, which was a bit boring. Rest of the guys were up to it. But the movie is worth watching. To be honest the only thing movie lacks is the major finance, which I believe kills the new idea. I would still thing that it is worth a watch and to be criticized on, But a very good effect.
Plz do watch and decide for yourself. -
The heist genre is old, so what is new and worth watching about this particular heist movie? The jokes. They are really sharp, fast, original and witty. And those jokes are delivered by a bunch of great actors: Matt Dillon, Kurt Russell and a delightful cool, calm and collected Terence Stamp. They all act really good.
The story is tight and fast moving and funny. Kurt Russell plays a gangster in need of money. Well, that´s news! He desperately needs money though and that's the reason he agrees to do an impossibly difficult heist. Will he succeed anyway?
Any bad? It's a bit too clever for the sake of wanting to be clever. And it's still a copycat of Ocean's Eleven, but an enjoyable copycat... -
bbickley13-921-5866416 March 2014It seems like forever since I saw Kurt Russell in something. I almost thought he was retired. Then I saw this at my local theater and realized Kurt is still rocking the old Snake Plissken hair style. That's OK, caused it works for him, and despite sporting the hair do for more than thirty years, it makes him look young and vibrate. As the title suggest, Kurt plays an experience thief. More precise he's Crunch Calhoun, a wheel man in a crew that also has his half-brother, Nicky Calhoun played by Matt Dillon as a member and Idea man. On their last Heist, Nicky gets caught and rats on his brother to stay out of Jail.After serving his time, Crunch becomes a struggling daredevil who gets pulled back into the game by his no good brother, who stumbles upon the ultimate Art Heist. That's how the title of the film doubles its cleverness, their a crew of experience art thieves, but that's where the cleverness really stops. I don't know if it's because everyone played their roles so dead on or because everyone was phoning in their performances for a pay check, but the film is way too predictable. The film follows the heist formula to the letter, and attempts to throw you off the scent, particularly with Jay Baruchel's character Francie, a thief who befriends Crunch at a time when the man was living on the up and up, and Katheryn Winnick who plays Crunch's girlfriend, Lola whose character's agenda could have kept me on the edge of my seat caused of a semi-love Triangle she created between Crunch and Nicky, but her character would have needed to be more developed to accomplish that. With the exception of Lola, The movie stands mostly on how interesting the actors made the characters they played. Watching them interact with each other was the best part. Like with veteran actor, Terrance Stamp playing a paroled ex-art thief force to work with a bumbling Interpol agent assigned to catch the crew doing something wrong in order to win his freedom. It is worth taking a gander at just to see Russell (and his hair), pal around with some interesting characters played by some decent actors, but it's nothing to go out of your way to see.
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Just caught this on TV by chance. At first I was a wee bit skeptical, but it seemed kinda interesting, so I stuck with it, and I enjoyed it. Mostly.
Just gonna get the problems out of the way first.. Accents. There are french accents, and Irish accents, and English accents here, and why are none of the actors with accents actually from the country their accents are from? (not that I can see, anyway) That I can't figure out. Because, well, for the most part they do OK, but here and there you notice something is a little off.
Also, why not just get people that are the real deal? Or just drop the accents. Actors faking accents is so.. uhm, I don't know, what they did in the old days. It's like, typical Hollywood-ignorance. (the viewers won't notice, nooo) Anyway!
Also, without spoiling, there are some stuff here that is wildly unrealistic. It has to do with paining, and time. (I know, because I paint myself) but I won't say more.
This is a heist movie, and a pretty entertaining one. I liked Kurt Russel, and I liked Matt Damon. I liked most of it, really. The accent thing is just a minor annoyance. The story good. It's nothing too special visually, but gets the job done. There are a couple of slightly artistic "story-telling" sequences, that I enjoyed. Nice to switch it up a little.
It's R-rated, so we are treated to some swearing. I like that. It's 90 minutes, (heist-movies tend to be long, which can be a drag) so it's short and pretty sweet.
And I's ain't not gonna go on and on about it. I liked it. -
Calicodreamin3 September 2019I didn't go into this with high hopes: it didn't have a good rating, I'd never heard of it, and it was in the backwaters of Netflix. But I was surprised by the quality of this movie. It definitely had a few flaws, but overall a good experience. A nice, somewhat expected, twist, that flowed well and had near flawless execution. The acting was fairly good.
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juliebigge2 January 2019There were a ton of great suprises with this one! The one liner jabs were priceless...the scenes that made you jump were terrific...just a great movie all around. The only crticism I have us the ending...very soft ending. I think they could've given that a better shot.
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lunchboxwanderer8 February 2014I can't put my finger on it though. I liked the characters, the actors and the idea.
It may have something to do with the fact that it tried too much to be like a "Guy Ritchie" London gangster movie.
Those are some of my favorite movies. Action packed, characters too stupid to get out of their own way, double crossing friends, and winning in spite of your incredible incompetence.
'Art of the Steal,' I think, tried to be that but fell short. The first half of it didn't do enough to create an anticipation for the second half when the gang of misfits gets back together for "the BIG JOB."
In the end, it just wasn't funny enough. -
nogodnomasters22 October 2018It is 5 1/2 years after Crunch (Kurt Russell) took the fall for stolen art. He was ratted out by his brother Nicky (Matt Dillon). After being apart, the old gang gets back together for "one last job."
It is a simple art heist/fence story that offers you levels of complexity as the real story unfolds at the end, similar to many fine "head fake" films. Like most films of this genre, the production is filled with good characters and humor. It is a movie worth watching for fans of "Ocean's Eleven" type films.
Parental Guide: F-bombs. No sex or nudity. -
Hellmant24 April 2014'THE ART OF THE STEAL': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Buddy heist comedy flick starring an ensemble cast headed by Kurt Russell. Matt Dillon, Jay Baruchel, Chris Diamantopoulos, Kenneth Welsh, Katheryn Winnick, Jason Jones and Terence Stamp all costar in it. It was written and directed by Jonathan Sobol (who also performed both duties on the 2010 comedy flick 'A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ENDINGS') and tells the story of a veteran art thief who's betrayed by his brother, and sent to prison for over five years, and then reluctantly reteams with him on a new heist (when he gets out). I found the movie to be entertaining enough, even if it seems like something I've seen dozens of times before.
Russell stars as Crunch Calhoun, a longtime criminal who's betrayed by his partner and brother, Nicky (Dillon), on a heist in which Nicky is caught by the police. Crunch is sentenced to seven-years in prison but gets out in five-and-a-half due to good behavior. When he's released he takes up work as a motorcycle stunt driver and takes on an apprentice named Francie (Baruchel) and a beautiful young girlfriend named Lola (Winnick). When times get really tough he decides to do another heist with his old team, including Nicky, after some persuasion. He of course doesn't trust Nicky and seemingly rightfully so. As they plot to steal a priceless book Crunch's team is also being watched by two interpol agents (Jones and Stamp).
The highlight of the movie is just watching all of the cast having a blast together. The film is not exceptionally well directed or brilliantly written (on any level) but the actors are all so perfectly cast that you care about the characters and just have a ton of fun watching them have fun together. It's great to see Russell in the type of role that he's most famous for again and his supporting cast couldn't be more fitting. There's even a highly entertaining blooper reel, at the end, to leave you in a really positive mood! The movie is unoriginal and the twists aren't all that great but it is entertaining even so.
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh0hmoLcuEo -
l-vrtis15 February 2014This is a failed attempt to make a funny heist movie. Unfortunately most of the characters are just clowns and the level of humor is rather embarrassing. The heist elements are weak as well and I wonder how somebody dares to make a heist movie based on such obvious tricks. However, what makes this movie worth watching (at least the first 10 minutes) is its portrayal of Poland that is truly hilarious.
***SPOILER of first 10 minutes***
There is a popular belief among north American directors that the soviet Russia starts on the eastern border of Germany. Countries like Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia are full of dark streets, everybody speaks Russian and nothing works as it should. This movie goes further than most showing a Polish gulag-style prison and the protagonist suggest all Polish prisons are dark hellholes where toothless inmates have to share beds and are locked in huge cages. The portrayal of Poland is so hilarious I almost forgot how bad the movie was and was laughing really hard. Unfortunately, this is the only funny moment in the movie.
Most heist movie start with a short heist that showcases the intelligence of the script. In this movie they switch a picture but have to move it across the whole town to a forger (who could have been sitting in the next room) who is stupid enough to leave the painting wet so that even the most stupid Russian-style mafia boss can recognize the fake upon touching the priceless painting (which is too stupid even for a stupid boss).
***END OF SPOILER***
There are many modern heist movies similar to Ocean's Eleven that are worth watching so I don't really see a reason why anybody should watch this one. If you want to see a good way to steal paintings, watch The Best Offer but avoid this rubbish (especially if you are Polish). -
garwhite449 February 2014What a great ride!
I'm Canadian, and nothing kills me more (being a Canadian) than saying that there is an undeniably 'crappy' feel to most, if not all, Canadian productions. That being said, this movie was actually really good. Great performances from most of the cast, really great to see Kenneth Welsh and Terence Stamp adding some credibility to whole thing.
As far as heist movies go, this one is fairly typical but the production/editing really pull it together. Kurt Russell does a great job along with Baruchel and Winnick and my usual aversion to Matt Dillon was even kept in check to some degree. Nice little twist-up at the end even if it was somewhat predictable. Also Some pretty funny scenes and exchanges, especially if you watch the outtakes in the credits.
All in all a great film with a surprisingly good feel. -
Here's what I don't understand - for Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell) to make more money taking dives as a motorcycle stunt driver than to actually perform those crazy jumps successfully in front of a packed stadium - that just doesn't pass the smell test for me. Maybe I'm missing something there, but it just doesn't sound right.
Well anyway, this is a scam the scammer flick in which the scammer and the scammed turn out to be brothers. After Crunch does hard time for a heist gone wrong instead of brother Nicky (Matt Dillon), he's not willing to forgive and forget, and sets up an elaborate plan to take Nicky out with the help of career grifters, most notably Samuel Winter (Terence Stamp), now working for Interpol as their resident expert on artful dodges. What starts out as a scheme to steal and reproduce a famous Gutenberg work, The Gospel of St. James, turns into an elaborate forgery of a famous Seurat painting. The nifty double cross is cleverly handled, but gets a little lost in the weeds during the exposition, so keeping a sharp eye on the action comes in handy. That scene of Dillon and Russell in the trunk of the car discussing the St. James potential was just a little to creepy, don't you think? That was a little too close even for brothers.
So it's a neat caper flick with both brothers doing a double cross, and it could have had a more more meaningful resolution if we found out where Nicky would be spending the next few years. Even so, stick around for some humorous outtakes during the credits roll. It's your reward for good behavior making it through the movie. -
dfgremnants7 August 2014Unexpected outcome, I just randomly watched it without looking it up, it starts you enjoy it and then you laugh for a while and then you pause it. (Which I did) and then you resume and don't stop till you finished it all.
Because it gets a bit slow at some point and if you're not into the film or don't know where it's headed you tend to lose focus but if you stick around, you get to see some entertainment.
I mean some funny entertainment. It has a good plot, you second guess things and their is this air of a major mess up that you can't shake, it's like you know things are going well but there has to be something that will mess up.
That keeps things interesting. Overall, it was far better than expected. Worth watching at least once.
Humor may or may not work for everyone. -
AudioFileZ4 April 2014Are you a sucker for heist movies? If so this one is almost great. No, it's just not going to make that cut, but it's plenty good enough to enjoy. That is if you park your "high-brow" ambitions. "The Art of the Steal" has some things going for it. First, it's a heist movie. That said, it ain't no "Reservoir Dogs". No gritty realism here, but there is a great cast, absolutely fantastic cinematography, and a just passable double-crossing plot.
This movie is filmed and edited with a distinct nod to Guy Ritchie. That is a good thing. Though it won't reach his level it's a good tip of the hat nonetheless. What elevates it to good enough is genuinely scene-stealing cinematography with a close to perfect cast and snappy (i.e., damn funny) dialog. It overcomes a lot. Not the least of which is a definitely lame story. But, oh how that story is brought to life by the cast and the director. It's pure entertainment. That is, if you park those "high-brow" expectations and just go with it. -
michaelhirakida21 September 2013The Art Of The Steal is a movie you Americans probably never heard of mostly because it is a Canadian film that takes place in Warsaw, Polland and Quebec City and Detroit. The film's main premise is stealing paintings for money.
The main character Crunch is played by Kurt Russell as he returns to his home town after 7 years in a Warsaw Prison. He plans on stealing one of the most valuable books in the world and he gets his old team back together including a few new people.
I was originally going to see We're The Millers, but I went to the first showing of one of the movies that were released and this was playing the earliest so I went.
The movie is a black comedy that is inspired by Oceans 11. The performances are not bad but Terrance Stamp has the best performance in the whole entire movie.
I don't think I have seen a movie about robbing books and paintings before, but this is the first I think I have seen of this but they do a fine job at it.
There is also a OK twist ending to the film.
The Art Of The Steal I think was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. It is playing now in Canada but I don't know if its playing in the U.S. It was good.
79/100 B -
It is far better than what I have expected from seeing the IMDb score and reading the reviews. There is certainly more to this movie than what you would normally think.
The story itself is not very original. Simple retelling of caper story clichés. Healthy dose of humor and interesting storytelling keeps you from giving up halfway through the film. Just don't expect much depth or details. Most of the action and interesting stuff happens later. Almost at the very end.
Kurt Russell seems to be better than usual. I always liked him as an actor, but thought he isn't capable of making a good performance since the beginning of noughties. -
The writing is cringe-worthy, and the film is never funny.. even when it's tries to be, BUT it's paced nicely, well-acted, and full of twisting plot-lines and interesting characters.
Kurt Russell still has it, and Terrance Stamp is another fine addition to the cast.
This is part "Italian Job", part "Out of Sight", part "Now You See Me", and has steven soderbourgh written all over it, but in that regard it's a fine production on it's own merits. Aside from the writing - it comes off as well-made little film.
Worth a flyer at the redbox.
62/100 I'm right with the current IMDb rating here. The ending saved the film for me. The last 30 minutes is pretty strong, but it's that dialog for the first hour that keeps me from going any higher. That and the complete and total lack of comedy... guess that goes back to the writing too.
Good story, good production values, interesting characters, deplorable script. -
bob-rutzel-18 May 2014Art thief Crunch (Kurt Russell) finishes up a 5.5-yr jail term in a Poland (yes, the country) Prison after being set up to take the fall by Nicky (Matt Dillon) his brother when an art heist went bad. He turns to stunt motorcycle riding. Nicky wants him to do one last job stealing the Saint James Bible. He agrees and gets his old team back together, but he doesn't trust Nicky.
Now you know that things are not going to go right and what can go wrong, will. You think I am talking about the story? No, I am talking about the dialogues and trying too hard to be humorous throughout. This just doesn't work. The premise is fine, but all falls apart when the actors open their mouths because trying too hard to be funny takes away from something that could have been entertaining. To put it mildly, things become annoying. Subtly was called for and this was the right call. Didn't happen.
I am not putting all the wrongs on Russell and Dillon. No, most of the supporting cast had many hands in this venture to make the heists funny. Too many.
The only good thing I found was Elvis Presley singing a song somewhere in the beginning and here Kurt Russell reminds us that he once played Elvis in a movie. He did, you know. Russell is a good actor along with Dillon, but in here nothing worked between them. It just seemed that too much was rushed trying to get to punch lines that didn't exist. See?
As expected the heist of the Bible goes good, but Nicky comes up with an idea to increase their takes using the same Bible. All agree to the new plan.
Also as expected, there are twists and turns and near the end and we get to see: THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. Nothing new here. We kind of expected this to be the case. It would have been a surprise to us if this wasn't shown. But, at this point, we really didn't care. We never did. The dialogues, alleged funny lines fell flat. Again, subtly was called for. Didn't happen. (3/10)
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes. -
siwaka15 March 2014Seldom writing reviews, but this one deserved it... just because it got such a low rating.... the movie fulfills the promise of the genre - it's a heist movie, with a bit of comedy in it, and actually funny comedy... and it has interesting plot, with good twist... the acting could be better, the camera could be better, the story could have been better...everything could have been better, but then it would be another movie. This movie deserves higher rating, if for no other reason, then just because it delivers the promised. it s not a masterpiece, it s just a good movie to watch when you want to be entertained... not many movies these days do so, so i must say: bravo,finally!
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MacTheMovieguy23 July 2014As part of my new segment, I'm making a greater effort to review some of the lesser known titles available on Netflix. Today's title is Art Of The Steal, a comedy caper in the vein of Now You See Me and Oceans Eleven. It was released theatrically earlier this year, and made less than 100K. I don't know why the studio was so afraid to release this film with any kind of a real marketing push. It isn't a terrible film, it managed a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. What went wrong? I think the problem is that Matt Dillon and Kurt Russell are no longer perceived as box office stars. The film is well written, and has a really cool twist at the end. Jay Baruchel is kind of annoying, and the supporting people (Winnick and Diamantopoulos) are a waste of space. Jason Jones is bizarrely interesting as an Interpol agent.
The idea is that Russell's character is a professional driver, and he is part of a crew, which includes his brother (Dillon), until his brother sells them out. Now Russell makes his living as a daredevil. But he finds himself in money trouble, and reunites the gang togetherÂ… for one last score.
It not a particularly long movie. If you liked the other movies I mentioned, you'll probably enjoy 90 minutes of this. -
canzpl10 February 2014This contains spoilers only for the first 5 minutes of the movie. So feel free to read on. I mean, how can somebody be so inconsiderate to portrait Poland like this? They filmed in Poland but didn't do any frigging research about the damn country. Let me walk you trough the first 5 minutes. It starts in the Wronki Prison. Have they even been there? What the hell?! That does not look like a polish prison. You want to see how a polish prison and their cells look like? Just watch any clip from the movie Symetria. Nobody is barred in cages like that. The warehouse/cages look like some soviet gulag! That is nothing like a polish prison. Second of all, right after the first prison scene, we have an aerial shot of a bridge with a SOVIET SONG from Belarus (!!!!)in the background. What the hell Canada? Next scene. 2 thugs in tracksuits. Thugs in Poland don't wear tracksuits for at least 10 years now. And Polish police would not chase down with motorbikes down the stairs of the subway, not to mention going into the metro car in a motorcycle!!! That is just outrageous. But hold on. It's not over yet. When the bikes chase each other, the camera shows 2 babushkas!!!! THAT DOES NOT EXIST IN POLAND! Who the heck is so dumb to portrait Poland like some soviet country? This seriously looks like Russia, and I am personally offended. You canadians should be ashamed. I would suspect such lack of professional filmmaking and writing from a typical B plan from Hollywood. canada, you have lost my respect in filmmaking for this foolishness