Parents' Guide to High Rollers

Like its predecessor, Cash Out, this heist thriller is almost good, provided you can turn off your brain. It's light and likable, but it takes too many shortcuts and drops the ball too often. With High Rollers, this series appears to be building toward a mini-Fast and Furious-like franchise at a fraction of the budget. The crew of thieves is like a found family, and they're so much fun and so lovable that their former foes tend to join up with them (like Georgios does here). (Although apparently Cash Out co-star Kristin Davis wasn't as charmed, as her role is now being played by Gina Gershon, who unfortunately spends most of the movie being kidnapped.)

It's actually kind of fun watching the rest of the team work, role-playing and speaking secretly through their coms. But it's a continual source of frustration when the movie whips them in and out of situations with no real logic. Things happen too easily; interesting problems arise, but the solutions aren't as interesting (including Mason walking away unharmed from a vehicle that has flipped and exploded). And there are too many times that we're taken out of the moment with "why didn't they just...?" and "how did they...?" type questions. It'll be interesting to see whether this series continues and possibly even improves, but at this point, High Rollers isn't living up to any particularly high stakes.