Heist (2001)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"Heist" is a mystery crime film with more twists than an Alpine road or a roller coaster. Indeed, at times one may seem to be on a roller coaster. The ride is wild and uncertain. Danny DeVito's Mickey Bergman is lacking in substance, to wit, the quote most identified with him. "Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money" about sums up his intellectual level and capacity. It's difficult to believe that this real dumb-head could out-finagle anyone. Gene Hackman does a tremendous job as the tired Joe Moore. Things just haven't gone his way. But some viewers (finger pointing at me) are lulled into underestimating Joe's deep cleverness. So, the ending is a very pleasing surprise. This is a crude and rough film, and maybe too overly complicated. But the picture of the poor crook trying to make it to retirement with a nest egg is played so well by Hackman, that it earns more stars than it would otherwise as a crime action flick.

The opening Heist and the bigger one are very fine outlines, clearly not very plausible but we are all here because we want to believe what we're showed and told.But suspension of disbelief only works if the whole movie is tense, with sharp characters, straightforward action (by action I mean a rhythm consistent in making all the parts hold together), basically a make believe game where everything comes together. Just like in a carefully planned Heist. You can't take it for granted that the movie-goer will just be baffled by a couple of goods brought together.In Heist you are supposed to accept some incongruities, mostly with characters that are very stereotypical. You have some great actors but at some point you can't throw in a couple of weaker characters without endangering the whole balance. Simply put, the movie-goer will start thinking harder while you had created the atmosphere for him to relax and listen to your story. Then things no longer feel urgent and compulsory, you try to second-guess the writer and as a result nothing you are watching really is captivating you.This was the 3rd and hopefully last movie penned and directed by David "Lazy Me" Mamet for me (the 2 others being House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner). I wanted to see a heist movie with Gene Hackman so I sealed of my prejudices about Mamet... but they just flowed out to tell me I should never have lost another 2 hours with that fraud of a storyteller. Big twists patched all around (and in Heist you have plenty of time to see those coming - or maybe I am Mamet certified level 3?) with utility characters and one dull homely broad in the middle. That is the Mamet trademark. Or recipe if you accept there are bad recipes to fool those with the ultra low expectations of a MOWed brain.

You'll lose count at all the twists in David Mamet's "Heist," starring Gene Hackman, Rebecca Pigeon, and Danny DeVito.One distraction here is that when I first saw Hackman and Pigeon, I thought Pigeon was Hackman's grandfather. Then I found out she was his wife. There's only a 35-year difference.Gene Hackman plays the leader of a gang robs jewels and fences them with Mickey (Danny DeVito). Mickey stiffs the gang on their latest heist in order to get them to steal a shipment of Swiss gold. As an added negative, he wants his nephew (Sam Rockwell) to go along with them.The crimes themselves are clever, but there are so many twists in this story -- and you have no idea what's a real circumstance and what's a machination by the Hackman character and just seems like it's happening, but isn't. And you won't know at the end of the movie, either.The performances are fine, except I didn't think Rebecca Pigeon registered much. I don't think it was that good a role. Danny DeVito probably had the best one as the mean as dirt fence.I loved House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner; this one doesn't come up to either one of those.

David Mamet writes slick,psychologically dense drama. GlenGary GlenRoss, Redbelt, House of Games, etc. Heist is in the same vein as his other movies: complicated plots with even more complicated characters in them, in which nobody's motives are what they seem and nothing is as it appears. Slight spoiler The movie is about a robbery gone somewhat south. Gene Hackman, who is in charge of the crew, has to do another assignment for a crooked low-life played beautifully by Danny Devito (they should have a separate Oscars category for him called "Sarcasm"). Crosses, double crosses, and triple crosses ensue, laced with the cool witty dialogue and psychological insights for which Mamet is so well known. The casting is perfect: everyone is spot on although I thought the character that played Jimmy Silk was a bit thin. The ending will stay with you, and as Gene Hackman drives away you'll realize that he really "isn't a man who ties his shoes w/o a backup plan." It is the type of movie you almost need to see twice and even then you'll wonder who knew what and who did what intentionally.