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Poster (c) Fox Searchlight
Nick Nolte admitted at the Toronto Film Festival that he used a little bit of heroin every day to prepare for his role of Bob in The Good Thief. If you think it’s a regular heist movie, think again. Instead of the obligatory twists, turns, backstabbings, cheating on wives, and everything, it has a sophisticated style to it (it helps that it was all shot in France…nice!). However, it gets bogged down by TOO much flair and sophistication, a confusing plot, and hard to understand accents.
The plot has Bob (Nolte) as an…guess what…aging thief who wants to do one last giant heist! Boy, I love the originality in plots today. He lives in the beautiful scenery of France, and he wants to rob paintings with a high value from a casino. People along for the ride include Paulo (Saïd Taghmaoui), Raoul (Gèrard Darmon), and Remi (Marc Lavoine). This entire movie has an un-Hollywood feel to it, but one “quality” from American films comes into it: there are a whole lot of characters. It’s hard to keep track of, and Nolte’s mumbling voice doesn’t help.
Another aspect of The Good Thief that I found nauseating (literally) was director Neil Jordan’s way of ending scenes with a freeze-frame. At times it looks like some bad editing, while at other times it simply looked like watching a scratched DVD on a very slow computer. Jordan seems like one of those “trendy” Hollywood directors. Others like him include Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down), Spike Lee (25th Hour), and Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich). I don’t particularly like their styles; they always seem to use odd camera shots and even odder ways of ending scenes.
Don’t go into The Good Thief expecting an ordinary, Hollywood heist movie. It has an air of sophistication, but ends up in deep bleep by the end.
Rated R for language, sexuality, drug content and some violence.
Review Date: May 23, 2003