Film: Crime 101 *****

It’s been eight years since Bart Layton laid electron to screen, but it was worth the wait. His adaptation of a Don Winslow novella proves there’s still room in Hollywood for a novel as original intellectual property: no superheroes, no explicit sex, just good dialogue and a clever plot. Give this man the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

The cast alone is the stuff that dreams are made of. Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry. Cameos by Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte. Nolte has a scene-stealing cameo. The man is 85 and has the face he’s earned. My wife is normally critical of actors who have had obvious face work done or who haven’t, but need it. She thought Nolte looked authentic. His voice has lost a step or two over the years, but still carries authority, essential to his small role.

It is remarkable to have Nolte and Berry in the same film, because they are Hollywood throwbacks. A real star like Jimmy Stewart or Humphrey Bogart played themselves in every role. That is, in a Jimmy Stewart movie, he played Jimmy Stewart, and audiences loved it. Halle Berry is on her way to that status and Nick Nolte is already there.

The capsule reviews said this was a movie about what happens when you make life choices that can’t be reversed. It’s like it says on the tin. Exposition follows the Hollywood rule, honored more in the breach than the observance, that exposition should be seen and not heard. ¹

The plotting is tight, clever, and as confusing as a John le Carré novel. Appearances to the contrary not withstanding, it is not a heist movie, but a psychological portrait of people learning that you can’t avoid the consequences of your actions. There are several semi-chase scenes in the film; the big one comes at the beginning. It’s as if the filmmakers want to scare anybody out of the theater who hates chase scenes. They almost succeeded with Vicki. The ending wasn’t straight up Hollywood, but it was more satisfying than the average 21st century film. We’re not talking Hayes code, where evil is always punished. We’re talking clever and original. In case you can’t tell, I liked the movie.

Footnote

1. 1. Show me, don’t tell me. At the very least don’t use a reporter doing an interview to set everything up. ↩︎