Before you read the review, I have a confession. This film was so bad I turned it off after a while. However, some time later, my friend Angelo convinced me to try actually finishing the film...a difficult task indeed!!
The casting in this film is strange. Christopher Lambert and Christopher Lloyd are Gus and Bruno, two professional but lovable thieves. The pair have absolutely no chemistry together and neither is particularly likable or funny in this buddy comedy.
The story begins with a press conference in which the US government is giving the Turkish government back a precious Byzantine jewel. Ridiculously, during this conference the jewel is stolen from that very room....something utterly impossible and stupid.
Soon after this, Gus and Bruno are committing another safe job and end up accidentally getting not only a lot of diamonds but the jewel that everyone is searching for since it was stolen. What follows is pretty boring.....no...VERY boring. Much of this is because EVERYONE in the film is stupid...to the point where they seem more like cartoon characters than actual people. The cops are dumb, the criminals are dumb and everyone else....dumb as well! The leading man is dumb....just not quite as dumb as the rest! The acting didn't help any, but the biggest problem was the writing.
To say the film isn't funny at all is pretty much on point. The two leads are terrible in the film and the direction is, at best, lackluster. The script often makes no sense (such as the scene where the cops start using an axe on Ralph's door) and I found myself wondering WHY...why am I torturing myself by continuing to see this? My wife encouraged me to bail, as she said she hated every minute of the movie. And, the second time, things didn't really improve.
My score of 3 is pretty generous, as it implies there is SOMETHING good about the film...and it took me a while to figure out what that was. So what is good about the movie? Well, it doesn't have a sequel!
By the way, if you are a masochist and want to see the film, I found two copies on YouTube. One, inexplicably, has a beeping sound throughout the film....the other is pristine. It doesn't really matter which one you watch....you'll likely be tormented either way.
The casting in this film is strange. Christopher Lambert and Christopher Lloyd are Gus and Bruno, two professional but lovable thieves. The pair have absolutely no chemistry together and neither is particularly likable or funny in this buddy comedy.
The story begins with a press conference in which the US government is giving the Turkish government back a precious Byzantine jewel. Ridiculously, during this conference the jewel is stolen from that very room....something utterly impossible and stupid.
Soon after this, Gus and Bruno are committing another safe job and end up accidentally getting not only a lot of diamonds but the jewel that everyone is searching for since it was stolen. What follows is pretty boring.....no...VERY boring. Much of this is because EVERYONE in the film is stupid...to the point where they seem more like cartoon characters than actual people. The cops are dumb, the criminals are dumb and everyone else....dumb as well! The leading man is dumb....just not quite as dumb as the rest! The acting didn't help any, but the biggest problem was the writing.
To say the film isn't funny at all is pretty much on point. The two leads are terrible in the film and the direction is, at best, lackluster. The script often makes no sense (such as the scene where the cops start using an axe on Ralph's door) and I found myself wondering WHY...why am I torturing myself by continuing to see this? My wife encouraged me to bail, as she said she hated every minute of the movie. And, the second time, things didn't really improve.
My score of 3 is pretty generous, as it implies there is SOMETHING good about the film...and it took me a while to figure out what that was. So what is good about the movie? Well, it doesn't have a sequel!
By the way, if you are a masochist and want to see the film, I found two copies on YouTube. One, inexplicably, has a beeping sound throughout the film....the other is pristine. It doesn't really matter which one you watch....you'll likely be tormented either way.