Criminal Minded

Criminal (Gregory Jacobs, 2004) - con



Disappointing, uninspired con movie with few ideas of its own. John C Reilly is his usual reliable self, and plays the lead pretty well, but he and his co-stars have very little to work with - Maggie Gyllenhaal is especially wasted as Reilly's estranged sister who gets involved in her brother's over-his-head scheme. The initial master/pupil relationship between Reilly and budding criminal sidekick Diego Luna plays a bit like Hard Eight, part two, but Criminal delivers nothing of that movie's slick, ultimately subdued story of everyday conmen, instead opting for an all-out Big Score with the obligatory twist ending, where everybody's playing each other for fools, and the viewer really couldn't care less. Shame on such talent.