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Heist
- Review Date: May 19, 2003
- R
- Genre: Thriller
- 2001
Common Sense Media says
Captivating David Mamet movie for grown-ups.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has very strong language, sexual references and situations (including sex used as a bargaining chip), drinking, smoking, robbery, and a very violent shoot-out.
What's the story?
In HEIST, veteran thief Joe Moore (Gene Hackman) is "so cool that when he sleeps, sheep count him." His pretty, young wife (Rebecca Pidgeon) "can talk her way out of a sunburn." And everyone wants money; "That's why they call it money." More archetype than stereotype, the film's set-up is the veteran with one last big job, the one that will get him out of the business for good. Moore's fence (Danny DeVito) will not pay off on a jewel robbery unless Moore goes for a gold shipment being held on a plane. The fence brings a new young partner into the deal, Jimmy Silk (Sam Rockwell), young and arrogant. Will Moore get away with the gold? Will there be double, triple, and quadruple crosses? Is there ever any honor among thieves?
Is it any good?
Writer/director David Mamet is fascinated by the con. He has written movies about an ordinary person who becomes involved with professional con men (House of Games) and about men who sell vacation property by selling a dream to people who cannot afford it. It may be that the con that interests Mamet most is the story itself, with the storyteller as the con man who spins a yarn so enticing that the listener is utterly captivated.
And it is a pleasure to be captivated by Mamet, the master of tired, tough, talk. The characters in Heist, long-time thieves, have had everything burned off of them but the coolness at their core. They do not talk to communicate. They talk to test each other and show off in front of each other and sometimes to show off in front of those who don't get it. Their talk is like their thievery, stripped down, cynical, and clever. It's like a secret language from Planet Cool and it makes you feel that it just might be worth breaking the law just to be able to speak it.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about whether it is possible to be loyal to people who are professional betrayers. Are there any good guys in this movie? How can you tell?
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AGE
Intense and very clever thief movie is not for kids
David Mamet's 2001 film Heist is often overlooked, mainly because the audiences at the time were tired of legal thrillers (it's almost 2012 and there still coming faster than we can keep them out of our minds!) and so it unfortunately bombed brutally at the box office. Now, Heist may benefit greatly, which it does, to a, well...great cast, but it is also a very ingenious and well thought out thief movie that actually manages to be rather unpredictable as it winds down further and further. Still, the R Rating may seem surprising to some people, but it is fairly deserved: There is frequent strong profanity with at least 80 uses of the F-words and more profanity scattered throughout the movie, a brief sex scene including crude dialog, and very infrequent but very strong bloody violence, which mainly explodes into a cavalcade of brutality in a scene near the end. Well, if you like crime movies, David Mamet, or are just plain old looking for something to watch tonight, then I certainly reccomend that you check it out.
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| Studio: | Warner Bros. |
| Director: | David Mamet |
| Cast: | Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Gene Hackman, Sam Rockwell |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Run time: | 109 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | November 9, 2001 |
| DVD release date: | March 12, 2002 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language and some violence |
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