Criminal (2004)

A different way of telling a story

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

American remake of the 2000 Argentinian film "Nine Queens" features John C. Reilly in a superlative performance as a sometimes-successful Los Angeles con-man who partners with a Spanish grifter he meets one morning trying to swindle waitresses in a casino; they become involved in a scheme to dupe an Irish billionaire out of 750 Gs with a rare (and counterfeit) bill of foreign currency. Director Gregory Jacobs, who also co-wrote the script with Sam Lowry (the pen name of Steven Soderbergh), wisely allows Reilly lots of room to go into his maniacal arias, which is a good thing since little else in "Criminal" quite measures up to him (certainly not that generic title!). Although the colorful supporting cast is excellent, Reilly is the spark plug to the entire picture--a fact which makes the final curtain something of a let-down. Since this house-of-cards scenario is filled with cross and double-cross, it's difficult to fault the general plotting (it's a writer's conceit, after all); however, the impetus of this story--how it all gets set into motion--is questionable by the denouement. Still, an engrossing and enjoyable film with a high-wire acting job from Reilly, which might have received a great deal more acclaim had the overall results been stronger. **1/2 from ****

Crime is a 2003 film based on a foreign one, Nueve Reinas.Rodrigo (Diego Luna) is a young Mexican male who, while in a casino, tries the old screwing up the waitress so she gives the wrong change con, when he's spotted by Richard (John C. Reilly). He gets Richard out of the casino by claiming to be a cop.Richard no longer has a partner, so he offers to take on Rodrigo. Rodrigo has a little money but he needs more to pay his father's gambling debts.Richard has his own problems, namely, his sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal) whom Richard cheated, along with their brother, out of their part of their mother's estate. She's suing him.Richard is contacted by a businessman, once an associate of his, who wants help selling a forged treasury note to someone who needs to leave the country the next day due to his visa expiring. Another man intrudes on the deal, and Richard needs more money and asks Rodrigo to use his savings. John C. Reilly is a wonderful actor. Here, playing a crook through and through, a racist, an anti-Semite, a man who cons his own family, he's excellent, actually bringing humor to a character who is reprehensible. He was actually cast as Stanley Kowalski in the Natalie Richardson "Streetcar Named Desire," a casting I'll never understand, although I'm sure he was excellent, if the wrong type.Diego Luna is sweet and unassuming as Richard's partner, who seems out of his depth.I felt this film moved a little slowly and also, I have to admit that I'm tired of this type of plot. I saw it coming a mile away. It was somewhat fresh 40 years ago. No more.I love suspense, mystery, crime drama, etc., so I wonder how many of this type of movie I'll have to sit through over the next 30 years.However, it has entertainment value and good performances, and if you don't watch these films as much as I do, you may love it. Hope so.

Nueve Reinas, the original story, is so much better, that is difficult to see that copy. Why Hollywood insist in don't translate the dialogs of the foreign films that American audiences could like, and release them? What is the reason that they are so f..... chauvinists? The rest of those lines is only to fill that obligatory rule of ten lines. Why ten? Why not twelve or fifteen? Maybee is the same reason for the actual blockbusters have 120 minutes or more. If you could't tell a story in 90 minutes, forget'it. I'm tired of those idiot "epilogues" that don't do nothing to the film narrative. Blá, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

As with all con films, you know you can never be sure who is conning who and what the final twist will be. In this, Richard is a cold-blooded con man who has lost his partner. He spots Rodrigo trying to con waitresses and helps him out. He then tells him he wants to try him out as a partner. So, for the rest of the day Richard and Rodrigo run scams together. The first one involves scamming an old lady, something that Richard has no remorse over.Later in the day, Richard hears from his sister Valerie. She says an associate of his is at her hotel. So he goes over there to learn that the guy has a scam he is trying to pull off but needs help. Richard eventually accepts it since it could net well over 6 figures. So, he and Rodrigo go around town setting up the scam.And you know you can never believe what anyone says and there will be a final twist. The twist here "SPOILERS" is that Rodrigo and Val were scamming Richard because Richard stole the inheritance that Val and their other brother was going to receive from their mother's estate.What I didn't get was when did Rodrigo first know Val. Did Val get Rodrigo to do it the first time they went to the hotel and the film just didn't show them talking on screen? Or was this a plan that had been planned weeks in advance? Because I don't get how that would be possible because it was Richard that initiated the relationship with Rodrigo. How could Val know that Richard would pick Rodrigo? FINAL VERDICT: I thought it was fun, like most con films are. It's fun to guess the final twist. I recommend it.