movie review life of crime

Review: ‘Life of Crime’ is true to mayhem and humor of Elmore Leonard

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No one brought more panache to wised-up crime, crime with a wicked sense of humor, than the late Elmore Leonard.

As the author of close to 50 novels, Leonard’s star has never been brighter, including the publication this week of a collection of four 1970s novels by the prestigious Library of America.

With their snappy plotting and peerless dialogue, Leonard’s books have been turned into dozens of films, the best of which include such favorites as “Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty” and “Jackie Brown” (based on the novel “Rum Punch”).

“Life of Crime,” written and directed by Daniel Schechter, is the latest top-drawer entertainment with the Leonard imprimatur: In fact the book it’s taken from, “The Switch,” is good enough to be included in that Library of America volume.

Schechter received the master’s approval for this project after he wrote the entire script on spec, so it’s no surprise that “Life of Crime” has the authentic Leonard snap, crackle and pop. (The novelist is listed as executive producer, and the film is dedicated to him.)

“Crime” also features an ensemble (top-lined by Jennifer Aniston) of seven actors who understand just how to pull off a disreputable character comedy delicately balanced between mayhem and humor.

One unexpected aspect of “Life of Crime” is that its central bad guys, Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara, are repeat characters from “Jackie Brown,” where they were played by Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro. Here they’re taken on by Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) and John Hawkes, and their strong acting ensures that the storytelling doesn’t lose a step.

The year is 1978, and “Life of Crime” starts, as Leonard novels frequently do, in Detroit, with Ordell and Louis having a pleasantly low-rent conversation about a crime they’re thinking of committing. Though these guys are drop-dead amusing, the film never lets us forget that they can and will be completely ruthless if the situation calls for it.

This disreputable pair have discovered that wealthy real-estate developer Frank Dawson (Tim Robbins at his most pompous, which is saying a lot) has been skimming $50,000 a month off his projects for years and is a millionaire.

A cutthroat country club golfer, Frank has a tendency to call his long-suffering wife, Mickey (Aniston in her best performance since Nicole Holofcener’s “Friends With Money”), “the other trophy in my life.” He calls her a lot of other things as well when he’s drunk, which is often.

Ordell and Louis, who are nothing if not thorough, have also discovered that Frank has a mistress in the Bahamas named Melanie (the always amusing Isla Fisher) he visits every chance he gets. So the plan is, snatch Mickey while Frank is out of town and tell him he has to pay $1-million ransom or he doesn’t get to see his wife again. Ever.

Every criminal team needs a disreputable confederate, and in this case it’s Richard Monk (“Sons of Anarchy’s” Mark Boone Junior), an arms dealer and neo-Nazi racist whose “send them back to Africa” rhetoric amuses the African American Ordell. “He’s so dumb,” he tells Louis, “it’s adorable.”

These men have concocted a fine plan for kidnapping Mickey, as far as it goes, but as in all Leonard concoctions, it doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t, for instance, know how to deal with Marshall Taylor (Will Forte doing clueless), a persistent country club swain with a yen for Mickey who has a habit of showing up at the least opportune time.

It’s not just that Marshall’s libido complicates things, it’s that it’s a given in Elmoreland that things do more than go wrong, they do so in ways no one could have anticipated. Unlikely alliances and unforeseen collaborations result as self-interested folks look out for themselves in situations where even the scammers can’t be sure who is scamming whom.

Adding to the amusement in this case is the way production designer Inbal Weinberg and costume designer Anna Terrazas have ensured that every location, not to mention every person, looks quintessentially 1970s. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

As “Crime’s” plot gets more complex, it’s hard to avoid trying to figure out how things will turn out, but the truth is it can’t be done. An Elmore Leonard cocktail of crime, comedy and character has to be mixed to exact proportions, and only the master can get it right every time.

----------------------------------

‘Life of Crime’

MPAA rating: R for language, some sexual content and violence

Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Playing: In general release

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Life of Crime (2013)

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Life of crime.

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Common Sense Media Review

Cool, funny Elmore Leonard crime tale has sex and language.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Life of Crime is a crime comedy based on a classic Elmore Leonard novel. There's lots of language, including uses of "f--k" and "s--t," as well as some brief but strong sexual content. A couple of brief sex scenes include topless women, and one of the main characters is a married man…

Why Age 17+?

In two quick scenes, a minor character is shown having sex with two different wo

Language is strong throughout, with uses of "f--k," "s--t," and more.

A woman is kidnapped by two men; they're fairly gentle to her, all things consid

Characters drink in a background way; no overindulgence.

Any Positive Content?

All of the characters wind up on the wrong side of the law, and though the movie

The movie is filled with criminals who eventually influence the few "good" chara

Sex, Romance & Nudity

In two quick scenes, a minor character is shown having sex with two different women; the women's breasts are shown in both shots. (These are "illustrations" for a conversation between two characters about which woman has the largest breasts in town.) One of the main characters is a married man having an affair; they're shown having sex, but there's no nudity. A female character sunbathes with her bikini unclipped, but her breasts aren't shown. A man cuts a peephole into a door so that he can watch a kidnapped woman.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

A woman is kidnapped by two men; they're fairly gentle to her, all things considered. She cuts her foot on some broken glass, and some blood is shown. She's also tied up and fitted with a mask. A man is conked on the head and stashed in a closet. Characters argue and physically struggle with one another. A man is hit by a car. A character goes on a shooting rampage and faces off with a bunch of cops, who surround his house. He's shot and killed. A second woman is tied up.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

All of the characters wind up on the wrong side of the law, and though the movie ends ambiguously, it looks like they'll be rewarded for their illegal efforts, rather than punished.

Positive Role Models

The movie is filled with criminals who eventually influence the few "good" characters to change sides. Only one character really pays for his crimes. One character is shown to be a white supremacist who collects Nazi propaganda.

Parents need to know that Life of Crime is a crime comedy based on a classic Elmore Leonard novel. There's lots of language, including uses of "f--k" and "s--t," as well as some brief but strong sexual content. A couple of brief sex scenes include topless women, and one of the main characters is a married man who's cheating on his wife (there's a sex scene -- no nudity -- between him and his new lover). A woman is kidnapped, some blood is shown, and a man goes on a shooting spree, but violence generally isn't particularly intense. The characters definitely don't face any consequences for their crimes, and in some cases, good people are persuaded to turn bad. Teen fans of Quentin Tarantino may be interested in seeing this, since it has a connection to his film Jackie Brown , with some of the same characters. But it's recommended for mature viewers only. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In 1978, ex-cons Ordell Robbie ( Yasiin Bey ) and Louis Gara ( John Hawkes ) cook up a plan to pull in some easy money by kidnapping aging trophy wife Mickey ( Jennifer Aniston ). Her husband, housing magnate Frank Dawson ( Tim Robbins ), has a secret, illegal account filled with over $1 million, and Ordell and Louis know all about it. Unfortunately, Frank doesn't want Mickey back. He's just filed for divorce and hopes to marry his new, younger lover, Melanie ( Isla Fisher ). Stymied by this new information and losing control of the situation, the kidnappers must come up with an even more brilliant plan.

Is It Any Good?

This film qualifies as enjoyable entertainment, or maybe a "B"-level movie, rather than a great movie. Based on a 1978 novel by Elmore Leonard and featuring some of the same characters from his 1992 novel Rum Punch -- which was the basis for Quentin Tarantino 's Jackie Brown -- LIFE OF CRIME will no doubt suffer from comparisons. And it definitely does feel like the lesser of the two films, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad film.

Writer/director Daniel Schechter brings a certain kind of economical edge to the production. It doesn't have any big set pieces or action scenes, but the general combination of the period clothes and sets, the great cast, and the colorful dialogue tends to make for a brisk, forward-moving energy. And the conversations that try to anticipate the next move conjure up a kind of low-key suspense that really works.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Life of Crime 's violence . Even though the kidnappers are nice to their female victims, what does it mean to kidnap someone? Why is it always a violent crime?

Frank leaves his wife for a younger woman. Why would he do this? How is sex portrayed in the movie overall?

Which characters did you end up rooting for in this movie? Are they good people? What lessons do they learn? Why are they so likable? What would the real-life consequences be for their behavior/actions?

Why do you think filmmakers included the white supremacist character with the Nazi propaganda? How did this material affect you? Did he get what he deserved? Why or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 29, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : October 28, 2014
• Cast : Yasiin Bey , Jennifer Aniston , John Hawkes
• Director : Daniel Schechter
• Inclusion Information : Black actors, Female actors
• Studios : Lionsgate , Roadside Attractions
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 94 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : language, some sexual content and violence
• Last updated : June 2, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Out of Sight

Jackie Brown

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Best classic comedy films, thriller movies.

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Life of Crime Reviews

Jennifer Aniston shines as the confused but composed hostage...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2021

A slickly made but blandish adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel The Switch. As usual Leonard's bad guys are more interesting than the straights. The trick here is figuring out who the bad guys are.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2021

[O]ne of the most, if not the most, faithful to the source material of all the [Elmore] Leonard adaptations...true to the stylized dialogue and wit of the novel itself. Life of Crime is as witty and wonderful on the big screen as on the page.

Full Review | Dec 14, 2019

Life of Crime lets sugar seep into where it could be pouring salt. At the end of the day, it's a film that deserves to be more memorable than the bland title renders it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 5, 2019

With a cast this good, to be this lifeless is criminal.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 25, 2019

The film just feels so...flimsy.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Mar 22, 2019

Hawkes and Mos Def are their charismatic selves and are well placed to deliver Leonard's zippy dialogue, yet the wistful fetishism of the aesthetics smoothers their character's rough corners and dilutes some of their attitude.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 8, 2019

The film stops short of being something truly memorable but has just the right amount of witty turns, deft plot twists, funny situations and interesting characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 14, 2017

No matter what your favourite is of films based on Elmore Leonard books (and I'm for Out of Sight ahead of Jackie Brown), this crime comedy will deliver a surprise.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 16, 2016

Schechter's staging is so flat that Leonard's dialogue never pops. You hear the words but not the music.

Full Review | Jun 9, 2015

Perhaps Schechter should have started with a prequel to Death Proof and worked his way up from there.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 20, 2014

An abiding insignificance looms over the film, but it's a fun 98 minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 31, 2014

Though a decidedly down-market adaptation of the great Elmore Leonard crime novel Switch, Life of Crime is never down-and-out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 2, 2014

It's good, solid Leonard, which, for me at least, is a cosy, comfortable, and extremely fun place to be for ninety-eight minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 1, 2014

Fun, throwaway, time-killing crime comedy romp.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 26, 2014

Despite sudden, and uncomfortable, tone shifts and a confusing plot twist, the film is anchored by strong performances from its cast, particularly Aniston.

Full Review | Sep 25, 2014

The script is a nice mixture of suspense and black comic bumbling about.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 22, 2014

Schechter's adaptation feels more cautiously reverent than inspired, denying Life of Crime of snap, style, and, most importantly, a sense of danger.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Sep 22, 2014

Appealing enough to pass, with Schechter locating a casual rhythm to a pressurized situation, relying on the writer's way with characters and twists to feed into well-acted adventures with criminals and the hostages who love them.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Sep 13, 2014

The meagre charms of the first act are soon squandered as this descends into straight-to-video stodge, progressing inexorably to a depressing climax. The book was better.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 7, 2014

Life Of Crime Review

05 Sep 2014

Life Of Crime

For its first act, this black-comedy crime film, based on an Elmore Leonard book, promises an exceptional tribute to the iconic writer, who died last year. Mos Def is outshone by an excellent, vulpine-looking John Hawkes and an amusingly revolting Mark Boone Junior. They play a bungling trio who kidnap Jennifer Aniston, the unhappy wife of socialite sleazeball Tim Robbins, amid tacky ’70s fashions and tackier attitudes. After the farcical, suspenseful opening, disturbingly funny in the way of Fargo, the film slowly deflates, the dry chuckles thin out, and there’s a disgraceful yuck-it-up punchline.

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Life of Crime Doesn’t Transcend Its Haphazard Story

With a couple of major ( major ) exceptions, film adaptations of Elmore Leonard novels rarely succeed. The breezy menace of his stories, the carefree, sneaky suspense of his plotting, the dim-bulb charm of his characters … it’s all booby-trapped for film. Go in one direction and it’s too bubbly, go in another and it’s all too generic, shorn of what made it special in the first place. If Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight work so well, it’s partly because those filmmakers themselves share the perverse, wildly varying tonal impulses at play in Leonard’s work. Their movies are like beautiful toy guns that somehow manage to go off.

Writer-director Daniel Schechter is no Tarantino, and Life of Crime (adapted from Leonard’s The Switch ) no Jackie Brown . But the film does manage to capture something special from Leonard’s work. A casual, breezy-cool comedy about a couple of small-time hoods who kidnap the wife of a rich businessman, only to discover that the man himself is having an affair and doesn’t really want to pay to get his wife back, the film seems primed to fall into the usual Leonard trap of being a comedy that’s not funny enough and a crime flick that’s not dark enough.

But Schechter has cast his story well. As Louis and Ordell, the two kidnappers, John Hawkes and Mos Def (or is it Yasiin Bey ?) ably suggest that they’re slightly out of their element, and win us over: When a part of their plan works properly, they seem as surprised as anyone else. They’re also a lot more likable than Richard (Mark Boone Jr.), the neo-Nazi pervert whose house they’re using to stash their prey. Worth noting: Ordell and Louis are the two characters later played by Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro in Jackie Brown (adapted from Leonard’s Rum Punch ), but this doesn’t feel like a prequel, or a related work. Rather, we feel like we’re seeing these characters long before they became their more extreme Rum Punch/Jackie Brown selves, before Ordell became a gun-running nut and before Louis became a useless pothead.

The real heart of the film, though, is Mickey (Jennifer Aniston), the long-suffering wife of neglectful, philandering good-old-boy real estate developer Frank (Tim Robbins). Aniston has to do a surprising amount of heavy-lifting here; in some ways, she’s the only character in the film who is not a total sociopath. She’s surrounded by criminals, and her husband is off cavorting with his younger mistress (Isla Fisher), seriously considering not paying the ransom demand. As we watch Mickey go from brittle, well-heeled victim to take-charge manipulator, the film starts to come to life; we start to care what happens to her. And suddenly, the cloud of careless malevolence that seems to float through every Elmore Leonard novel gathers meaning and weight: Criminality, even the laid-back criminality of a film like this, feels consequential when you start to care for the victim.

Is it enough, though, for the film to truly succeed? I’m not sure. If Life of Crime transcends its lightheartedness to actually make us care for what happens to its characters, it doesn’t quite transcend its own haphazard, impoverished story. I haven’t read The Switch , so I can’t tell how faithful the film is to Leonard’s original. But the author’s narratives, at their best, have a way of sneaking up on the reader: You get wrapped up in the people, and before you know it, you’re feverishly anticipating what happens next. And usually, something does happen next. In Life of Crime , you might care what happens next, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself asking, “Is that all there is?” when it’s all over.

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• daniel schechter
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Movie Review

Husband of Kidnap Victim: Take My Wife, Please

• Share full article

By Ben Kenigsberg

• Aug. 28, 2014

LIFE OF CRIME

Opens on Friday

Directed by Daniel Schechter

1 hour 39 minutes

Some lineage is in order. “Life of Crime” is adapted from Elmore Leonard’s 1978 novel, “The Switch,” which features characters he brought back in 1992 for “Rum Punch,” filmed as “Jackie Brown” by Quentin Tarantino. With each year, “Jackie Brown” seems more like a lost classic from 1978. “Life of Crime,” to paraphrase a character from Mr. Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” isn’t in the same ballpark or sport.

But as a late-summer caper movie, it hits the spot. The film offers the intriguing contrast of actors and a director (Daniel Schechter) taking a different approach to known material.

The film follows Ordell Robbie (a droll Yasiin Bey, a.k.a. Mos Def, in the Samuel L. Jackson role) and Louis Gara (a pleasingly dry John Hawkes, subbing for Robert De Niro) in their Detroit years. They plot to kidnap the wife, Mickey (Jennifer Aniston), of a real estate developer, Frank (Tim Robbins), who’s planning to leave her for his mistress (Isla Fisher).

“Life of Crime” quickly settles into a groove, amused by its 1970s décor and what sounds like Mr. Leonard’s dialogue. (The author, who died last year, is credited as executive producer.) When Mickey expresses shock at Louis and Ordell’s kidnapping partner’s collection of Nazi memorabilia, Louis remarks, “What, you don’t like history?” Oddly, that sentiment might apply to “Life of Crime,” which traffics in low-key nostalgia.

“Life of Crime” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Kidnapping, racial slurs, some sex.

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Movie Reviews

'life of crime' has authentic elmore leonard snap.

Kenneth Turan

The late author wrote close to 50 novels, and several of them, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight , were made into films. His 1978 book The Switch has been turned into a film called Life of Crime .

Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

‘Life of Crime’ Review: Jennifer Aniston Dark Comedy Is Pure Escapism

This Elmore Leonard adaptation is late-summer piffle, but Aniston and a sharp supporting cast make it an exceedingly entertaining one

If you’re still smarting from a sharp disappointment from this summer (ahem, “Snowpiercer” ), you could do a lot worse than bounce back with a just-good-enough rebound like “Life of Crime.” Much like the unassuming heroine Jennifer Aniston plays (and perhaps like Aniston herself), this Elmore Leonard adaptation doesn’t inspire ardor, but it certainly boasts above-average intelligence and a streak of knowing unpredictability that make the dark comedy a pleasurable morsel of escapism.

While out-in-the-streets women’s libbers enjoyed their 1970s heyday in the battlegrounds of New York and D.C., Aniston’s Mickey, a Detroit housewife, embarks on her own journey of self-actualization in the midst of her abduction. A pair of first-time kidnappers, Louis ( John Hawkes ) and Ordell (Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def), snatch Mickey from her affluent but unshowy home to ransom her for a million dollars. They’re not aware, though, that Mickey’s bullying husband Frank ( Tim Robbins ) has already filed for divorce — and that he’d just as soon have the kidnappers relieve him of the responsibility of making alimony payments for the rest of his life.

Also watch: Jennifer Aniston Is Kidnapped But Her Husband Doesn’t Want Her Back in ‘Life of Crime’ Trailer (Video)

Mickey doesn’t know about either the divorce filings or Frank’s off-the-books business dealings, which afford him the regular Caribbean vacations he takes with his mistress Melanie (Isla Fisher). When she finally learns of his chicaneries — and his unwillingness to pay for her freedom — Mickey angles to seize control of the narrative and to map out a path to freedom from both her kidnappers and her husband.

Because we’re introduced to Mickey as a browbeaten deer, delicate and wide-eyed, it’s satisfying to see her eventual reinvention as the kind of woman who avenges the invasion of bathroom privacy by thrusting a lit cigarette into her Peeping Tom’s spyhole. (She narrowly misses burning the eye of neo-Nazi Richard (Mark Boone Junior), whose house she’s stashed away in.) She quickly notices Louis’ hangdog affection for her and exploits it to her advantage without ever being unkind.

Also read: Jennifer Aniston, Jon Hamm and Will Ferrell Headlining ‘Stand Up to Cancer’ Telecast

It’s a joy to watch several of the other characters also gradually defy archetype. Writer-director Daniel Schechter (“Supporting Characters”) skillfully interweaves their deepening psychologies with the unfolding abduction caper, with the kidnapping crisis revealing everyone’s true colors. Like her rival, Melanie the Mistress turns out to be much cleverer than her skimpy outfits (and her attraction to blustering, bullish Frank) first suggest. Her married lover, on the other hand, proves compellingly inept, as does the contemptibly spineless Marshall (Will Forte), a fellow country-clubber, besotted with Mickey, who accidentally witnesses her abduction.

Because its expansiveness serves it so well, “Life of Crime” collapses toward the end when Schechter folds the story upon itself to pinch it into a cyclical structure; that might have seemed witty on the page, but it feels calculatingly hollow on screen. To force the narrative trajectory toward its predetermined end, it also necessarily flattens Ordell and especially Louis. With just the outlines of a character, Hawkes works just as hard as the rest of the veteran cast, but he doesn’t have much else to do  than bat his sad eyes at Aniston. You can feel Louis’ longing for Mickey, but not his love. 

For all its well-timed twists and betrayals, though, there’s a slightness to the film that makes it little more than a congenial distraction in the last days of this drought-choked season. Sure, it’s nice to stare at something that’s not outrageously dumb while sitting in industrial-strength air-conditioning, but if you want a movie you’ll actually remember next month, search elsewhere.

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Home » Review » Movie » Life of Crime

Life of Crime

Like a Diet Coke version of a classic Elmore Leonard romp.

A particularly muted  Elmore Leonard adaptation, Daniel Schechter ‘s  Life of Crime  has real value in its cast and their skillful performances, but the remaining elements of the film, while not disastrous, lack focus and flair, eliciting half-hearted shrugs and soft laughs. It’s like a Diet Coke version of a classic Leonard romp: While  Out of Sight and  Jackie Brown  crackled and popped,  Life of Crime  (based on “The Switch”) lightly fizzles and lacks the same big flavor. It’s tasty enough, but it’ll make you long for the real stuff.

We meet two small-time crooks in 1978 Detroit named Louis and Ordell (played by John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey , respectively). In their first kidnapping job, they target Mickey Dawson ( Jennifer Aniston ), the wife of country club blowhard Frank Taylor ( Tim Robbins ). Frank’s been doing illegal funny business on the side for a while (involving an off-shore bank account and other big-wig nonsense), knowledge of which Louis and Ordell use as leverage to up the pressure. One million dollars is the ransom, but as it turns out, Mickey isn’t worth a million dollars to Frank at all, since she and her drunk, boorish husband positively despise each other. In fact, Frank’s been secretly shacking up with another woman in the Bahamas named Melanie ( Isla Fisher ), who he plans on marrying. (The divorce papers were in the mail pre-kidnapping.)

Melanie forcefully takes the reigns on Frank’s side of the hostage negotiations, cunningly bending the situation to her whim. Few revelations or genuine surprises arise as the caper unfolds, but there are a few amusing tangles in the plot.  Mark Boone Junior  plays a burly Nazi nut whose grungy home the crooks use to stash Mickey, but when he’s left alone with her, things get pretty dicey.  Will Forte plays a family friend who’s the only witness to Mickey’s kidnapping (he’s got the hots for her, too), but there’s little for him to do in the grand scheme of things.

Mickey develops a sort of friendship with Louis, who she senses is a generally nice guy, despite him being her captor and all. Aniston’s evolution throughout the film–from hapless housewife to thick-skinned tigress–is gratifying to watch. Hawkes and Bey complement each other surprisingly well (though Robert DeNiro and Samuel L. Jackson’s interpretations of the same characters in Jackie Brown are pretty untouchable), and Hawkes enjoys even better chemistry with Aniston. Robbins and Aniston have fun slinging venom, but there’s little drama at the bottom of it all.

Characters swap positions, deceive one another, and the sprawling plot spirals into a controlled chaos (as many Leonard capers do). The way the film wraps up, however, is so meek and uneventful that it’s hard not to feel disappointed. The labyrinthine events that lead us there aren’t anything to get excited about either. Most moments of tension feel way less tense than they’re supposed to, and most chats shared between the quippy characters are thin and soulless. The film just feels so…flimsy.

As far as set design, the period elements are so inconsistent I often forgot the film takes place in the ’70s. Schechter exhibits skill for sure, but whether or not he was pushing himself to be his best, I couldn’t tell. I don’t think so. He surely had a hand in his actors’ good performances, but there’s a pervading sense that he didn’t impose his style onto the project enough, as if he let the Hollywood stars do their own thing because they know what they’re doing. Check out  Supporting Characters if you want to see what he’s really capable of.

Life of Crime  trailer

Life of Crime Movie review

Life Of Crime Movie

Who's Involved:

Jennifer Aniston, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Dan Schechter, Isla Fisher, Mos Def, Mark Boone Junior, Lee Stollman, Will Forte, John Hawkes, Michael Siegel, Elmore Leonard

Release Date:

Friday, August 29, 2014 Limited

Plot: What's the story about?

Career criminals Ordell and Louis team up to kidnap Mickey Dawson, the wife of a corrupt Detroit real estate developer. When the husband refuses to pay the ransom for his wife's return, the ex-cons are forced to reconceive their plan, and the angry housewife uses the duo to get her revenge.

modified plot formulation from variety.com

2.86 / 5 stars ( 22 users)

Poll: Will you see Life Of Crime?

Who stars in Life Of Crime: Cast List

John Hawkes ... Louis Gara

Contagion, The Sessions  

Jennifer Aniston ... Mickey Dawson

Just Go With It, Horrible Bosses  

Mark Boone Junior ... Richard

The Gateway, IDA Red  

Mos Def ... Ordell Robbie

Cadillac Records, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  

Isla Fisher ... Melanie Ralston

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Now You See Me 3  

Will Forte ... Marshall Taylor

Win or Lose (series), Good Boys  

Who's making Life Of Crime: Crew List

A look at the Life Of Crime behind-the-scenes crew and production team. The film's director Dan Schechter last directed Life of Crime . The film's writer Dan Schechter last wrote Life of Crime .

Dan Schechter

Screenwriter

Production Company

The Gotham Group

Watch Life Of Crime Trailers & Videos

Theatrical Trailer

Production: what we know about life of crime.

• Based on the novel "The Switch," written by Elmore Leonard.

Filming Timeline

• 2013 - October : The film was set to Completed  status.

Production is scheduled to start May 2012.

• 2010 - May : The film was set to Announced  status.

Life Of Crime Release Date: When was the film released?

Life Of Crime was a Limited release in 2014 on Friday, August 29, 2014 . There were 7 other movies released on the same date, including As Above, So Below , Leprechaun: Origins and Cantinflas . As a Limited release, Life Of Crime will only be shown in select movie theaters across major markets. Please check Fandango and Atom Tickets to see if the film is playing in your area.

Life Of Crime DVD & Blu-ray Release Date: When was the film released?

Life Of Crime was released on DVD & Blu-ray on Tuesday, October 28 , 2014 .

Q&A Asked about Life Of Crime

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Movie Review: Life Of Crime

Director: Daniel Schechter Cast: Tim Robbins, John Hawkes, Jennifer Aniston and Mos Def Crime comedies are a delightful breed of movies. They have the right amount of thrill and ample room for wit. Life Of Crime is one such gem. It’s genuinely funny, cleverly written and smartly acted. Author Elmore Leonard is known to be an excellent crime novel writer, and Life Of Crime is based on his acclaimed book The Switch. So the inventiveness and dexterity in writing is no surprise. With a stellar cast on offer this one does become a proverbial steal of a deal. This is a period film. It’s based in the late ‘70s and the setting makes it an even fresher prospect. Two con men hatch a plan to kidnap the trophy wife of a real estate magnet. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong. It helps that every character has an odd trait that makes the situation even more hilarious. The bad guys aren’t all that bad, the good guys aren’t all that good. The result is a nice blend of comedy of errors. There are certain insights in the writing that just blow you away. For instance, when the con men break into the house to kidnap the wife, they can’t move in at the instant, because she’s talking on the phone. There are many such instances of sublime intelligence. But if there’s one thing that movie lore has taught us, it’s that good source material doesn’t always make a good film. It all boils down to the interpretation and execution of the team making the film. It’s here that Life Of Crime truly finds its force. With names like Tim Robbins, John Hawkes, Jennifer Aniston and Mos Def on the roster things have to go right. But it’s the relatively new director / writer Daniel Schechter who surprises. His take on the story and his treatment of situations is brilliant. The characters are odd, the humour is subtle, witty and wry and the situations are ever so surreal. It’s reminiscent of the Coens’ brand of cinema. At least superficially. It’s definitely not as dark and masterful as a Coens’ film. But it is appropriately dialogue heavy and the scenes unintentionally funny. As it happens in every Coens’ movie, it’s the actors who hit the home runs. Life Of Crime benefits hugely due to the talents of Tim Robbins, John Hawkes, Mos Def and Jennifer Aniston. Robbins and Def are supporting characters. Yet they light up the situations with clinical performances. Hawkes and Aniston on the other hand make the odd couple. One is the kidnapper the other is the trophy wife. Put together they’re as unique and odd as the seventies. If you’re in India, do not waste time with other big ticket releases playing in theatres right now. Go watch this wonderfully executed and delightfully funny crime caper comedy. The characters will engage you, the story will surprise you and the dialogue will make you laugh out loud. Go criminally good time.

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Life of Crime

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Movie Review: 'Life of Crime'

August 29, 2014 / 3:47 AM EDT / CBS Philadelphia

By Bill Wine KYW Newsradio 1060

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Jennifer Aniston sure could use some friends in Life of Crime . Alas, no one is there for her.

But as has often been the case since the former small-screen favorite, always easily sympathetic, became a big-screen lead, she transcends the material.

Set in the late '70s, Life of Crime is a crime comedy based on The Switch (1978), by the late crime novelist Elmore Leonard.

Quite a few of Leonard's crime novels have been turned into movies, including Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Freaky Deaky, 52 Pick-Up, and Stick.

Life of Crime may not be the worst of them but lands quite a distance from the best.

What Life of Crime is is the technical prequel to Rum Punch, which writer-director Quentin Tarantino adapted into Jackie Brown.

Aniston stars as Mickey Dawson, the Detroit socialite wife of a wealthy, unfaithful husband.

When she is kidnapped, her husband, Frank Taylor, the corrupt real-estate developer played by Tim Robbins, refuses to pay the $1-million ransom declared by her kidnappers.  Their threat to him is that they have information about his illegal dealings and offshore accounts.

The small-time, first-time kidnappers, Louis and Ordell -- played respectively by John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey (previously Mos Def) -– were portrayed by Robert De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson in Jackie Brown .

But what the get-rich-quick schemers didn't slow down long enough to find out about their target was that Taylor has been traveling to Florida to be with his mistress, Melanie, played by Isla Fisher (and by Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown) , rather than on business trips as he has been claiming.

And because Frank intends to marry Melanie and has already filed divorce papers, he's not really interested in paying alimony, so why bother responding to the demands of his wife's captors?

As Mickey comes to realize the shape her marriage is in, she grows closer to Louis, whose obvious feelings for her clearly worry Ordell whenever he considers what will happen when push comes to shove.

But Aniston and Hawkes don't have the requisite chemistry to use this variation of the Stockholm Syndrome –- the film's most interesting subplot -– to raise the film's game.

There's also collaborator Richard (Mark Boone Jr.), the racist neo-Nazi lunatic in whose house the kidnappers have decided to hide.

And let's not forget about Will Forte, surprising us with his range once again -– as the ex-"Saturday Night Live" cast member did so memorably in Nebraska -- as Marshall, the family friend and cowardly but conflicted would-be suitor of Mickey who witnesses the abduction and does nothing to stop or even report it.

Director Daniel Schechter (Goodbye Baby, Supporting Characters) , who also wrote the screenplay full of Leonard's signature plot twists and betrayals, employs a light touch but shows his inexperience when the promising first half doesn't build to anything more interesting.

And the abrupt "Is That All There Is?" ending, both desperate and disappointing, allows the film to (like the kidnappers' plan) spin out of control and then collapse like a house of cards in a windstorm.

Aniston and Leonard (the latter having passed away last year -- this was the last movie project he was involved in) were two of the film's eight producers. So we can give them partial credit for the performances being at least adequate all around, and for the dialogue early on that gets our hopes up.

But we can also assign them partial blame for Life of Crime lacking the laughs to deliver as a comedy and the intensity to score as a drama, and for the fact that we look around in vain for someone to root for in more than a perfunctory way.

So we'll kidnap 2 stars out of 4 for the lamentably lightweight Life of Crime . There's plenty of crime, just not enough life.

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Den of Geek

The Best Movies Based on Real Crimes

Small-time thieves, big shot gangsters, crooked politicians, and twisted serial offenders have been making movies better for ages.

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Fictional horror movies scare us until we leave the theater. True crime dramas follow us home because they happened once to someone—or so they say.

Heists, abuses of power, murders, and multiple murders. Hollywood loves crime and all the ill-gotten bootie it brings. From 1907’s The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the Thaw-White Case to the upcoming Roofman , films inspired by true crime capture a special kind of imagination. They are cautionary tales with real-life consequences, and dramas too sordid for mixed company. In the Golden Age, stories of gangland thugs came with promises of being “ripped from today’s papers.” Every robbery is a drama. Each public scandal is a potential movie trailer. Every human tragedy is a closeup. Here are some of the best films that took their plots from schemes attempted in real life.

Zodiac (2007)

Directed by David Fincher , Zodiac is as exhilarating as it is frustrating . The Zodiac Killer case, which terrorized late 1960s San Francisco, has never been closed. The elusive serial killer taunted law enforcement, mailed cryptic ciphers to local newspapers, and left bloodstained clothing as belligerent markers. Yet his identity remains an unsolved mystery. The movie captures the feel of a terrified California, never knowing when the next victim would be chosen.

Though they top the credits, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. are supporting actors to the suspense of Zodiac . The slow narrative burn is incremental, calculated, and never plodding. The story is based on Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation’s Most Elusive Serial Killer , by Robert Graysmith, who worked as a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle during the spree. Fincher, screenwriter James Vanderbilt, and producer Bradley J. Fischer also conducted their own investigation into the murders. The results are admirably close to the exasperating reality of crime procedures. Some suspects get away with inconceivable crimes.

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The French Connection (1971)

Director William Friedkin’s The French Connection is the closest a Hollywood blockbuster comes to an authentic on-the-street criminal investigation. All the cop movie clichés now taken for granted were invented in this motion picture classic. Gene Hackman’s Det. “Popeye” Doyle leads with his gut, picks his feet in Poughkeepsie, pisses off other cops, gets a kick out of needling the FBI, and is in the driver’s seat for the pinnacle car chase in cinema. His partner, Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider), provides perfect backup, even taking a switchblade slice for the team.

The fictionalized adaptation of Robin Moore’s 1969 true crime book, The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy , documents the end of the Corsican mob’s alliance with Organized Crime founder Lucky Luciano for the production, refining, and distribution of heroin, allegedly through the Bonanno and Magaddino families. It was the first sniff to hook the movie-going public on Hollywood’s war on drugs. To experience the dangers of policework first-hand, Friedkin went on busts with the real-life Popeye Doyle during shooting. For his next film, The Exorcist (1973), the director would go to hell and back.

Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellas , directed by Martin Scorsese , is the gangster genre’s greatest riches-to-rat story. Based on Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy , Ray Liotta stars as Henry Hill, who gave state’s evidence before escaping into the witness protection program to dodge a drug bust. Robert De Niro plays Lucchese family associate James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, renamed Jimmy Conway for the movie, but displaying the authentic charm of the original. Joe Pesci plays Tommy DeVito (real name Tommy “Two Gun” DeSimone), for everything but laughs.

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster,” Hill beams at the film’s opening. Scorsese makes crime palpably exhilarating. Clothes, cash, clubs, and coke can explode at a moment’s notice. Goodfellas doesn’t play out on the manicured lawns of The Godfather . These are street-level gangsters hijacking low-level loot until something bigger comes along. Famous before the movie was made, the Dec. 11, 1978, Lufthansa Heist at Kennedy International Airport is at the heart of Goodfellas . It is still one of the biggest thefts in American history , and remains unsolved. “The Gent” whacked anyone who could tie him to it.  Goodfellas is a game-changing masterpiece of violence, humor, and underreported street crime.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Leonardo DiCaprio ’s Jordan Belfort was raised by two middle-class accountants in a tiny Bayside, Queens apartment. He turned 26 the year he headed his own brokerage firm, pulling in $49 million, which was not the prime catch he’d calculated it to be since the predatory money-mover was chasing a million a week. Director Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the real Belfort’s memoir about his work as a Wall Street stockbroker. For DiCaprio, Belfort is a golden goose until the eggs drop in the “boiler room” to get scrambled into a penny-stock scam. 

Scorsese knows how to make even the most egregious villainy fun, however fleetingly. The audience never forgets, however, that good times never make it to the closing credits. Ultimately convicted of fraud, market manipulation, and acts beyond fiduciary infractions, the young fiscal upstarts in this film exemplify the financial center’s wild and crazy frat boy behavior while the money lasts. Also starring Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Margot Robbie as a fictionalized version of Belfort’s second wife, Naomi LaPaglia, and Matthew McConaughey as the most relaxed pocket-cash wizard on the planet , The Wolf of Wall Street is a roller coaster ride to fiduciary perdition.

Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock ’s Psycho didn’t create the slasher movie, but it is the most influential cinematic example of the art. The horror film genre would never be the same after its intensely morbid fascination with details. The director used 78 camera setups and 52 cuts for the shower scene’s 45 seconds of screen time, and the images are etched in viewers’ minds forever. As is Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), the emotional center of the film until she’s unnervingly hacked from the frames, leaving the audience with no empathetic focus to relate to.

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The Bates Motel check-out policy scenario is loosely based on evidence left by the 1950s’ “Butcher of Plainfield,” Ed Gein, who also inspired Leatherface in director Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and the Buffalo Bill killer from Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Hitchcock’s seminal work was inspired by author Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel Psycho , but only for speculation. The details of Gein’s crimes are condensed for universal fear, and only imagined as an ongoing event. Perkins projects an enigmatic air, lost between identities, content to sit and stare, unable to harm a fly. What mother could be prouder?

All the President’s Men (1976)

On Nov. 17, 1973, President Richard Nixon looked into the eyes of the American public watching a historically infamous televised Q&A session, and admitted, “People have got to know whether or not their president’s a crook.” As the Associated Press managing editors holding the event eagerly anticipated further confession, the president explained, “Well, I am not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” In director Alan J. Pakula’s All the President’s Men , Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman’s unlikely Washington Post journalistic duo Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein chase the reported earnings, following the money to decidedly crooked ends.

Woodward didn’t expect much from his assignment on the break-in at the Watergate Hotel complex. Even if it was home to the Democratic National Committee headquarters, a burglary didn’t seem like big news. Bernstein never dreamed to be politely drowned in tea after unplugging a leak in the dam holding back the Watergate Scandal. It would take down a president. All the President’s Men is a triumph of a film, depicting a coup for journalism, winning a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Jason Robards, as well as Best Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Art Direction Oscars.

Summer of Sam (1999)

In the summer of 1977, the “.44 Caliber Killer” spree gripped New York City in urban panic. Mysterious shootings were reported. Then the “Son of Sam” identified himself in boastful letters to New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin. Satanic doodles appeared encoded into the notes. No one wanted to be caught alone in New York or its boroughs. They barely braved Yankee Stadium to cheer the New York Yankees to the 1977 World Series. Women with dark hair avoided the shadows of parked cars. Men with long dark hair covered it. Lovers’ Lanes were deserted. A serial killer was hunting strangers.

Spike Lee ’s Summer of Sam does not follow the investigation, and has no use for the killer David Berkowitz. The director aims his camera at the Bronx to focus on the reactions in the neighborhood as paranoia veers to barely contained unrest when civilians get fed up, and try to end the killings themselves. The ensemble cast, including John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Ben Gazzara, and Michael Imperioli, expertly evoke frightened New Yorkers on the edge of their last nerve.

I, Tonya (2017)

Taking out the kneecaps of a contender is a time-tested way to identify a criminal, but it was still a surprise to fans and judges of the U.S. World Figure Skating Championships. Even though it was Tonya Harding’s (Margot Robbie) ex-husband Jeff (Sebastian Stan) who allegedly hired the inept saboteur to deliver a break-a-leg gesture to rival skater Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver), it is probably a wonder why such a thing didn’t happen sooner in retrospect. In director Craig Gillespie’s dark comedy, I, Tonya , cut-throat rivalry is a go-to maneuver on the ice. Competition runs cold on the 1994 U.S. Olympic team, but I, Tonya is surprisingly warm, making a case for a media villain with the misfortune of being too right not to be cast in the part.

Skates don’t sharpen themselves, and the scenes with Tonya’s mother LaVona Hardin (Allison Janney, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the role) bite with a major misalignment of good sportsmanship. I, Tonya doesn’t point fingers, but z-turns at missed opportunities. Kerrigan won the silver medal at the Olympics. Harding placed eighth. I, Tonya is an indirect celebration of the cost of athletic theft .

Fritz Lang’s M commands many distinctions. The German production invented serial killer movies and police procedurals. It may also be the creepiest film ever made. Possibly due to the expressionistic projection of a community paralyzed in fear, and its frightening felonious underworld. It could be Peter Lorre’s performance. His Hans Beckert can’t help being the monster he is. The biggest reason M is the creepiest is the subject: a series of murdered children. The most disturbing distinction comes from the source material. If not specifically modeled on “The Vampire of Dusseldorf,” Peter Kürten, those devastating crimes did still occur. Randy Newman was so affected by M , he composed the unsettling “ In Germany Before the War .”

M fills the viewer with dread, elongating each wait until the inevitable becomes unbearable. Imagined horrors permeate the peripheral visions of the mind’s eye as vital scenes cut moments too soon. Sunlight illuminates a lost balloon, freed from innocent fingers. Interplay between shadow and light casts judgment on figures looming near “Wanted” posters. Claustrophobia engulfs a marked man, literally, with a chalked capital M to hail his crime, as a bullying camera leads him to an unrelenting court of criminals. The film offers no respite.

Eight Men Out (1988)

Arnold Rothstein, the gambler who schooled the young men who would organize crime in the U.S., was known as “the Brain” on the streets. He never lost a bet. Rothstein was also called “Mr. Big,” “The Big Bankroll,” and “The Fixer.” His biggest fix was the 1919 World Series. It rocked the nation as the “Black Sox Scandal.” With Eight Men Out , director John Sayles, fresh off his mining town drama, Matewan , knocks a long line drive into the national psyche for a wound sports fans still love to pick at.

Baseball is the American pastime, beloved, respected, and above all, trusted. This doesn’t always extend to players, like Chicago White Sox star pitcher, Eddie Cicotte (David Strathairn), who is promised a bonus for winning 30 games, but given nothing by the team’s owner, Charles Comiskey (Bond “Sheriff” Clifton James), for coming up one short. John Cusack and Charlie Sheen, who lobbed a screwball at the Major League comedies, are equally compelling on opposing trajectories. Even left-handed “Shoeless Joe” Jackson (D.B. Sweeney), who never breaks but doesn’t rat, scores a lifelong ban after being ruled out of bounds. Only Rothstein and the audience get payoffs.

Monster (2003)

Director Patty Jenkins’s Monster profiles Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), who robbed and killed seven men who hired her as a sex worker between 1989 and 1990 in Florida. The experience is seen through the eyes of young Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), based on Wuornos’ real-life girlfriend Tyria Moore, who appreciates the ferociously protective devotion of her mentor while growing suspicious about bodies found in Florida, and being pressured by police to turn informant.

As embodied by Theron, Wuornos is a flawed and deeply traumatized human who never excuses her crimes, desperation, or rage against men. Theron dissociates years of childhood and adult abuse to channel a clear path toward redemptive darkness. Theft and murder are a means to an end, and as Wuornos takes great pains to shield Selby, the raw performances escape unprotected. Wuornos testified she acted in self-defense, but was branded a “predatory prostitute” by prosecution, which pointed to prior sexual convictions as evidence of ongoing hustles. She was sentenced to death and executed in 2002. The jury acquitted Theron, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role.

River’s Edge (1986)

In 1981, a 17-year-old high school student strangled a 14-year-old schoolmate to death, tossed her into his pick-up truck, and dumped her in Milpitas, California. Friends came to see the body, but no one reported it, and she lay there for days. Directed by Tim Hunter from a screenplay by Neil Jimenez, River’s Edge unravels the confusion of the community. The school psychiatrists couldn’t. The media questioned the soul of American youth.

In the film, Samson “John” Tollet (Daniel Roebuck) murders his girlfriend Jamie (Danyi Deats), and brags about it. Layne (Crispin Glover) doesn’t hesitate to offer help, ultimately hiding John at their dealer Feck’s (Dennis Hopper) place. He killed his own lover, and now lives with a sex doll, Ellie, hassle free. Torn by the knowledge, Matt (Keanu Reeves) is overwhelmed by either reality. His daily life is a nightmare already. Matt’s mom is only vaguely conscious, and his 12-year-old brother Tim (Joshua Miller) spotted the body while tossing their sister’s doll in the river. Because he has no emotions to show, no one believes Matt at school. Ultimately, convenience reveals itself as Clarissa (Ione Skye) and Matt find excuses, and Jamie earns a tear from the community.

In Cold Blood (1967)

The novel In Cold Blood , Truman Capote’s intimate examination of the 1959 Clutter family murders in a small Kansas town, shocked the nation. The drifting home invaders chasing small scores appear remorseless to a sociopathic degree. The adaptation does nothing to gloss over this perception. Director Richard Brooks attempts to capture the grim reality with absolute honesty. Actor John Forsythe was a lookalike for real-life investigator Alvin Dewey. Robert Blake resembles Perry Smith, and Scott Wilson could pass for Richard Hickok. They would certainly be pulled aside in a lineup.

In Cold Blood ’s promotions noted how Brooks shot in the same bus terminal and gas station Smith made calls and filled his car. Actors were filmed in the store where the rope and tape used to bound and gag the Clutters were bought. The murder is reenacted inside the family’s house. Brooks cast witnesses and reporters in scenes filmed on the streets, highways, and gambling towns the killers crossed. The courthouse on film is where the lifetime criminals were tried, and seven of the real jurors who decided their fate in court are now on camera. The result is the most fulfilling testimony of unexplainable motivation ever presented in cinema’s open forum.

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American Gangster (2007)

Denzel Washington plays Frank Lucas in Ridley Scott’s American Gangster. The uptown entrepreneur who broke the Mafia’s heroin monopoly started as the protege to Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson (Clarence Williams III), the guiding gangster in the Harlem Renaissance. “You are what you are in this world,” Lucas believes. “Either you’re somebody, or you ain’t nobody.” The film is filled with former somebodies, starting with Bumpy’s funeral. Lucas earns solid street cred by popping a hole through the skull of a cut-rate startup on a packed avenue. Who is going to rat him out?

On and off the screen, in and out of prison, Lucas was “The Man” in a world of “made men.” Washington owns a rank higher than any capo or consigliere, because of the soldiers on the street, and facing heat. With a personal lock on the source, the Golden Triangle, in Indochina, Lucas has no use for middle men cutting in on his dope. Det. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) plays it by the book, a clean cop distrusted by other cops, and targeted by gangs. Roberts is set on taking down mob rule. Lucas is a student of mob rules, like killing cops is bad for business.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty play the most romantic and rifle-powered couple of the Great Depression. Small-town scheming dreamers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow embarked on a spree of bank robberies, depositing headlines to national papers, and humiliating federal law enforcement until they were shot to death in a hail of bullets in 1934. Along with the Barrow Gang, played with enthusiasm and camaraderie by Gene Hackman, Estelle Geddes, and Michael J. Pollard, the couple and their extended crime family became the most famous robbery crew of the era.

In a changing motion picture climate, Bonnie and Clyde pushed boundaries on violence, justice, and discussion of sexual relations while modernizing the star-crossed outlaws into fashion plates, suitable for framing on matinee posters, or coroner reports. The film also gives Gene Wilder a repressive tour de force as hostage Eugene Grizzard. After the Barrow Gang steals his car, Eugene’s false bravado leaks into something worse, his real job. Grizzard and his fiancé bond with the gang until Bonnie sees only darkness in his chosen profession. The humor in the subtle foreshadowing adds to the shock of the ending’s cinema-changing overkill.

Badlands (1973)

Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate were the Bonnie and Clyde of the rock and roll generation. With James Dean and Marlon Brando as reigning matinee idols, the leather-jacketed 19-year-old high school dropout Starkweather was irresistible. Charles went on the run with his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, after killing her mother and stepfather with a shotgun, and stabbing and strangling her two-year-old sister. The young couple murdered 11 people in a robbery spree that stretched from Nebraska to Wyoming between December 1957 and January 1958.

A young couple on the lam in a “hot rod” was the stuff of legend in the era of Rebel Without a Cause . Future horror master Stephen King kept a scrapbook on the young desperados when he was a kid. Caril and Charles inspired the films Kaliforni a (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994), but it was Terrence Malick’s Badlands , starring Martin Sheen as Kit (based on Charles) and Sissy Spacek as Holly (based on Caril), which best captures the pair’s core entanglement and motivation. Kit is no manipulating sociopath, and Holly is not a vapid baton-twirler. Malick does not romanticize the pair, or paint them as society’s children. They wanted kicks and cash.

Iceman (2012)

Based on Philip Carlo’s book, director Ariel Vromen’s The Iceman tails a man who loves his work so much that it’s also a hobby. Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) spent a lifetime perfecting murder. He was never a “made man.” “The Iceman” takes mob contracts because he is an entrepreneurial serial killer accruing 100 to 350 deaths. He keeps that life secret. On their first date, Richard tells the future Mrs. Deborah Kuklinski (Winona Ryder) he does voices for cartoons. He writes a poem for his daughter’s 16th birthday party. When “The Iceman” hits the discos, he’s more likely to bump someone off with aerosol arsenic than do The Bump.

On the job, Kuklinski can access any gun, appreciates an icepick in the ear, and easily improvises with an ax, chainsaw, dull kitchen knife, or plastic spoon. He is a versatile administer of death. When Marty Freeman (James Franco) makes a hit list and prays to God for protection, Kuklinski waits for a sign before deciding “Guess God was busy.” Ray Liotta is terrifying as mob monster icon Roy DeMeo. The Iceman is a character study of a psycho who kills profusely to get his kids into a better school.

The Boston Strangler (1968)

From June 1962 until January 1964, 13 women from ages 23 to 85 were assaulted and strangled in the Boston area. The community was traumatized, demanding answers, begging for action. Albert DeSalvo, an inmate at a state mental hospital, confessed to the murders in 1965. Defended by F. Lee Bailey, and never physically linked to the scenes, DeSalvo was convicted, and ultimately murdered in Walpole State Prison in 1973. Reporters Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole’s four-part Record American coverage gave the confessed serial killer a title.

Directed by Richard Fleischer, The Boston Strangler was loosely based on the 1966 book by Gerold Frank. The film was released a few years after DeSalvo was convicted, and the case closed. Starring Tony Curtis as the Stangler and Henry Fonda as the detective, John S. Bottomly, the film is a taut cat-and-mouse chase, with both unexpected traps and claws. Curtis is surprising. He invites no sympathy, but interest is invested in his predicament as the walls close in. The Boston Strangler is suspenseful, focusing on the investigation rather than the anticipated graphic violence. The expected sensationalism is unleashed in a psychological study from an inexperienced Hollywood.

Bugsy (1991)

Benjamin Siegel is an underworld legend, an associate with the original Luciano Family. Also called “Bugsy,” but never to his face, he was on the founding crew of Murder, Incorporated. Siegel was one of the most influential, respected, and feared felonious figures on the streets of New York in the “Roaring Twenties” and beyond. Siegel was played by Brad Dexter in The George Raft Story (1961). The Godfather ’s Moe Green (Alex Rocco) is based on Siegel. Armand Assante parodied the gambling legend in The Marrying Man in 1991. The same year Warren Beatty redefined the character in the title role of director Barry Levinson’s love story-infused mobster biography, Bugsy .

The gangster epic begins when Siegel goes west to exert mob influence on Hollywood, starting with how every producer with access to a camera would find it in their best interest to shoot his test reel. Benjamin’s killer hit list spoke for itself. While considering how to divide the east and west coast sands, Siegel gets the idea to turn the desert of Las Vegas into a gambling mecca. He falls in love with Virginia Hill (Annette Bening) and creates cinematic history. It is an eye-popping love story.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Directed by former Dead End Kid Sidney Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon hit theaters as original, daring, and audaciously ahead of its time, just like the bank robbery it was based on. Sonny Wortzik is one in a string of iconic parts for Al Pacino . He was based on John “the Dog” Wojtowicz, who robbed a Chase Bank in Brooklyn on a hot 1972 summer day to pay for a sex change for his wife Leon Shermer, a man, played to sheer perfection by Chris Sarandon. It was Sonny and Salvatore Naturile’s (John Cazale) first and last heist. The robbery caused a stir in the city. Every local TV news broadcast covered it. Crowds gathered along Avenue P. Radio stations played requests from the trapped thieves.

The Best Original Screenplay Oscar-winner captures the thrill of the underdogs’ desperate chaos. Heroes are made by delivering pizza, legends born by throwing marked bills at sweating spectators. Everyone chants “Attica. Attica! ATTICA!” The remarkable ensemble portraying hostages turns Dog Day Afternoon into a deep character study as plans for a routine bank robbery spiral hysterically out of control. Violent, suspenseful, and packed with consistently unexpected humor, it is the best true crime film.

Tony Sokol | @tsokol

Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment…

Count “1992” as one of those films with its heart in the right place but its execution in the wrong space. Set on April 29, 1992, the day of the Rodney King verdict, this is a surprisingly uncomplicated film, one that attempts to balance its heist-thriller elements with its combustible racial milieu. It features Tyrese Gibson as a single father named Mercer, working to protect his teenage son Antoine (Christopher Ammanuel) from the surrounding violence only to upset an ensuing robbery led by Lowell (the late Ray Liotta) and his crew. There are shootouts, a car chase, some heroics and some hard life lessons—but this film isn’t breaking new ground on either the action or socio-political front.   

Director Ariel Vromen’s “1992” often plays like a significantly lesser mishmash of Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit” and John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13.” It poses a one-night structure that puts to test the resolve of its Black protagonist to simply survive the night whether through brunt force or through pained civility. And while certain thrills can be had from its nuts and bolts construction, you’re left wanting this film to lessen its well-worn genre elements in deference to the difficult father-son dynamics it initially sells.   

Those dynamics, in an on-the-nose script written by Vromen and Sascha Penn, come in two forms. The first arises between Mercer and Antoine. The former was recently released from prison six months ago, and now he’s working on not going back by staying away from the gang he once ran with and by plying his trade as a maintenance worker in a plant. Mercer, of course, doesn’t want Antoine to follow in his footsteps. So he has the teen, despite Antoine’s charge that he’s being locked in a proverbial cage by his dad, to return directly home from school. The film’s other strained father-son relationship is Riggin Bigby (Scott Eastwood) and his father Lowell. It’s Riggin who thinks up a get-rich-quick scheme, proposing that Lowell’s gang rob Mercer’s plant where there happens to be $10 million worth of platinum—with the uprising associated with the Rodney King verdict providing the perfect cover for their plan. 

Of the two threads, it’s clear that Mercer and Antoine have a far more potent relationship. Through their eyes we are transported back to the hood films of the 1990s, where the potential for danger seems to rise higher around every corner. It’s here Mercer is still a local legend for his violent ways. In the film’s first half, Gibson remains stoic, as though he is afraid that any show of emotion will lead to trouble. The same could be said of his hunched posture, the way his body is swallowed up by the oversized jumpsuit he wears to work. This is a man attempting to change himself from the inside out. When Mercer’s acquiescence is thrown against Antoine’s fervent desire for revenge following the verdict, an enthralling explosiveness develops between the two. Unfortunately that energy is often undone by the film’s frank dialogue and blunt scenarios, such as a police barricaded roadblock that nearly goes wrong. 

That father-son relationship only leaves the other more wanting. We know that Riggin is tired of working for his dad and his band of petty criminals. He also wants to take his younger, sensitive brother away from Lowell. Beyond that the writing just sorta stops. There are very few scenes between Liotta and Eastwood, which admittedly, might have been out of Vromen’s hands. We’re not sure why Riggin hates Lowell and vise-versa. Nor do we get a sense of Lowell. Liotta is delivering his lines with confidence, but they don’t string together into a complete character. He is merely violent and heartless, and not much else. 

Fascinatingly, these two families do not immediately meet. In fact, Lowell and his crew are halfway done with their robbery, over halfway through the film, before Antoine and Mercer stumble onto their criminality. The film then becomes a fight for survival as Mercer and Antoine attempt to avoid Lowell’s wrath. Though the majority of the action happens in these scenes, the film, mysteriously, appears to slow down. There is no suspense to Mercer brawling with Lowell’s men. Maybe that’s because it’s all been thrown together at the last minute, casting away the pleasures of seeing rivalries and vendettas that have naturally been developed over the course of the picture? Or maybe it’s because the shooting of these sequences is fairly rudimentary?

In any case, “1992” doesn’t wear its genre elements well. It can also struggle in the edit too, such as the clumsy integration of archival footage from the Los Angeles uprising. Vromen can’t decide whether to show us those images via the television, whose broadcasts of the news often occupy the back of the composition or to show it as a documentary. The score also feels mismatched, opting for syncopated jazz music in a film that plays as far too sweaty and far too grimy for such precise percussion. 

And yet, it’s difficult to wholly disavow this film. There is an albeit obvious tension in two Black men avoiding these white criminals while in the film’s outer world white folks are steering clear of Black protestors. There is also a palpable anger felt by Mercer and Antoine that the film understands. And Liotta, in his final completed film, is a plus presence. You just wish all of those elements came together in a movie that had the ability to lean on its human components and find drama in their relationships rather than pushing them aside for lackluster set pieces in a conventional social picture.

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the  New York Times ,  IndieWire , and  Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the  Los Angeles Times , and  Rolling Stone  about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

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‘Wolfs’ Review: Brad Pitt And George Clooney Face Off As Aging Fixers In Jon Watts’ Verbose Action Comedy – Venice Film Festival

Wolfs is an interesting reminder of the route writer-director Jon Watts might have taken if he hadn’t fallen into the Spiderverse, being an amplified version of his 2015 Sundance debut Cop Car . That film starred two unknown kids in a kind-hearted crime caper reminiscent of Spielberg in his Sugarland Express days; this one leans into After Hours -period Scorsese, and stars two of the most famous people in the world. Though they have a lot of fun with it, the familiarity of the two graying matinee idols as they bicker and snark through an effortless but also slightly weightless genre romp leaves one with the sneaking suspicion that, at times, they might be having a bit more fun than we are.

Most likely inspired by Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and the character of Winston “The Wolf” Wolf (as played by Harvey Keitel), this is a whole movie devoted to a character that dwells in the fringes of crime thrillers: The Fixer. It begins with a situation that desperately needs fixing: It’s Christmas, and New York DA Margaret Kretzer (Amy Ryan) is alone in a posh new Manhattan hotel and cursing blue murder with the body of a near-nude, drug-addled young man lying in a pool of blood and glass on the bedroom floor. In desperation, she whips out her cellphone and taps out a number that leads to a disconnected line.

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Seconds later a voice calls her back: “How did you get this number?” The voice is calling from a payphone in a dive bar, and Margaret explains she was given his number for times exactly like this. As if paraphrasing an ’80s action poster, she tells him what she was told about him: “There’s only one man in this city that can do what you do. This man is a professional. This man is an expert .” He agrees to take the job and arrives within the hour after giving Margaret strict instructions to sit tight and not touch a single thing.

RELATED: Apple Original Films Sets Sequel To George Clooney-Brad Pitt Drama ‘Wolfs’ As Film Pivots To Limited Theatrical Release Before Apple TV+ Bow

Played by Clooney, this is Margaret’s Man, and he sets to work with low-key gusto. Suddenly, however, there is a sound, and another man appears. The newcomer, played by Brad Pitt, is the Mr. Fixit hired by the hotel’s unseen owner, Pamela Dowd-Henry (voiced by Frances McDormand). Pam has been watching the night’s events on an illegal surveillance camera and demands the two men collaborate to clean up this “absolute clusterf*ck of a mess.” Margaret’s Man, the archetypal lone wolf, bristles at this unnecessary intervention, while Pam’s Man enjoys needling the (ever so slightly) older man as they set about disposing of the body and any sign that Kretzer was ever there.

As a mop-up procedural, Wolfs is often very funny and most ingenious. Both men have thoughtfully brought clean outfits for the blood-soaked Kretzer to wear, and there’s a delicious moment where she takes a skirt from one man and a top from the other, leaving both slightly crestfallen. It quickly transpires that they are very, very competitive, and there’s a stylized, almost Hitchcockian vibe to the opening scenario, lightly reminiscent of Rope , as the two men quibble over the dark art of fixing.

The stakes ramp up slightly when Pam’s Man finds a bag tucked away behind a sideboard; inside are four bricks of a drug that looks suspiciously like heroin. This, obviously changes everything, and Pam, justifiably, freaks out, not wanting her bijou hotel getting caught in the crossfire of a cartel drug war. However, this isn’t the only humdinger of a surprise in store: the boy is not dead, and somehow he escapes their normally capable clutches, leading to an extraordinarily complicated chase that finds Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man orchestrating a pincer movement by foot and by car.

This, however, is merely the starting point for a genial action comedy that, to be frank, will appeal mostly to audiences over 40, raised on a diet of movies with jaded, wisecracking characters that were born too old for this s—. The camaraderie is palpable and genuine, but the repartee is forced in comparison to the gentle physical comedy that both are so good at (and which they telegraphed so well in their best joint effort, the Coens’ 2008 Burn After Reading ). The rat-a-tat dialogue, which at times seems self-congratulatory rather than funny, is particularly wearing, distracting from the needlessly verbose final reveal, which comes out (or does it?) in a head-spinning back-and-forth.

Luckily, both are old pros, but their over-familiarity does rob the film of surprise, which is sorely needed for a well-worn caper about stolen drugs and a vicious Croatian crimelord (played by Zlatko Burić in a criminally undercooked role). In this sense, Austin Abrams is the film’s MVP, the body from the hotel room, whose protestations (“I’m not a prostitute!”) fall on deaf ears and whose surprising backstory adds an interesting third wheel to the Midnight Run -style mismatched buddy premise.

Unsurprisingly, despite serving up the old Butch and Sundance ending, the film leaves the door wide open for a sequel — who is the fixer behind the fixers? — and, in stark opposition to the diminishing returns of the Ocean’s franchise, another go-around might actually nail things down. In fact, Watts is likely thinking of the Wolfverse right now …

Title:  Wolfs Festival:   Venice  (Out of Competition) Distributor:  Apple TV+ Director-screenwriter:  Jon Watts Cast:  Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Poorna Jagannathan, Zlatko Burić, Richard Kind Running time:  1 hr 48 mins

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'Laughing Buddha' takes on police obesity with a witty crime twist

The Laughing Buddha , with his iconic image of joy and serenity, symbolises deep, enduring happiness despite life’s trials. Does Laughing Buddha as a title for the film capture its essence? Yes, it does. Here is how it does this.

At its heart, the film explores the complex challenges of balancing family life with professional responsibilities, skillfully blending drama and dark humour to both entertain and provoke thought. The central character, Govardhan (Pramod Shetty), is popular among his colleagues for his distinctive approach to interrogating suspects that often leads to quick confessions. However, his love for food becomes a significant obstacle as he attempts to lose weight. The plot keeps viewers engaged with unexpected twists in his journey, raising curiosity about how he will confront these challenges.

The story begins with Govardhan, a police constable who leads a happy life with his wife and child. His passion for food was a key factor in attracting his wife (Teju Belawadi). Govardhan comes across as a devoted husband, and his interactions with his wife reflect a warm yet traditional view of marital roles. This sentiment is beautifully captured during a family gathering at the police station, highlighted by a song arranged by his father-in-law, (Sundar Raj). The event is memorable and, thanks to the media, it also brings attention to the issue of obesity among some officers. In response, a senior police officer (SK Umesh), imposes a three-month deadline for these officers to lose weight and get fit, with the threat of dismissal if they do not comply.

Director Bharath Raj offers a fresh perspective by highlighting the personal struggles and human side of police officers, rather than sticking to the conventional portrayal as he addresses obesity within this profession with sensitivity, using it as a lens to explore broader themes of health, professionalism, and societal judgment.

The film also features a crime subplot involving (Diganth) that adds an extra layer of intrigue. The dramatic arc involving a substantial bribe and (Diganth) arrest reveals a darker side of institutional corruption, contrasting the idealistic pursuit of health and personal well-being with a backdrop of moral decay.

Laughing Buddha also incorporates a satirical take on rice-pulling—a traditional practice associated with supernatural claims. The director touches upon the clash between naturopathy and conventional medical practices, illustrating the conflict between old beliefs and modern realities.

Laughing Buddha remains consistently engaging despite a few minor slow spots thanks to its strong writing. In explaining how the policeman deals with weight issues, the film achieves a balance between light-heartedness and subtlety, delivering its messages without becoming preachy.

Pramod Shetty shines as Govardhan, bringing depth and authenticity to the role. His performance anchors the film, making his weight struggles all the more relatable. Diganth adds a spark of versatility, while Teju Belawadi and Sundar Raj among a few other actors provide strong supporting roles.

Rishab Shetty’s production ensures the film is polished and visually appealing. Laughing Buddha effectively wraps a serious issue—obesity among police officers—in a light-hearted package. Can a film about weight problems in law enforcement be both funny and insightful? Laughing Buddha is proof that it can and that even hefty topics can be approached with humour, keeping audiences entertained while reflecting on real-life challenges.

Laughing Buddha

Director: Bharath Raj

Cast: Pramod Shetty, Diganth, Teju Belawadi, and Sundar Raj

Rating : 3/5

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