Customer Reviews

How to Rob a Bank

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this movie. It's not complicated, nor deep. But that's part of its charm. A simple pleasant comedy. I've watched it many times when I just want something light and amusing.

I didn't know it was possible to make a boring bank robbery movie, but apparently it is. Jinx (Nick Stahl) is a disgruntled paycheck-to-paycheck Gen-Y quasi-slacker stuck in a bank vault with would-be robber Jessica (Erika Christensen). Gavin Rossdale is Simon, the anti-depressant popping sociopath waiting outside the vault with an itchy trigger finger and a bank full of hostages. Terry Crews is Officer DeGepse, the half-competent police negotiator allowing his strings to be pulled by Jinx. And David Carradine is the voice of Nick, the robbery's mastermind. In a useless plot device, the key bank robbers (Nick and Simon) take their names from Duran Duran since they use a fansite to mask their communications over the internet.

What happens? Not much. Jinx recruits Jessica to his side (despite lack of apparent chemistry between the two actors), sees through Nick's masterplan, rants about bank charges, plays Simon and DeGepse against one another to engineer a way out of the safe, and (presumably) splits the eventual take with Nick and Jessica.

At the end of the day, this seems like a waste of Nick Stahl's talent. Nothing really makes sense in this movie - from the robber's Duran-Duran-obsessed cabal, to the origin of the stolen money (banking fees which are somehow unclaimed), to the location of the all-important computer terminal (locked in a branch vault as opposed to a corporate site or secured facility), to Jinx's ability to turn his `captive' robber, to the final escape. Most of the movie appears either poorly conceived or unbelievable.

The `escape' scene is emblematic of the movie's inability to carry any semblance of logic, suspense, or momentum. Jessica has to appear as Jinx's captive to fool Simon, while appearing as an innocent bystander to escape DeGepse's notice and prosecution. All is solved by having a jammed gun (a recurring motif throughout the movie) go off and plug Simon in the forehead, ending everyone's troubles. Nice, tidy, and completely unrewarding. I'll take The Bank Job or Heat any day over this one any day.

I actually wanted to like writer/director Andrews Jenkins' "How to Rob a Bank." I think there's a genuinely clever idea at work in the film's premise and some effective and pointed satire about the current state of our financial institutions (and, indeed, about mechanized bureaucracy). Jenkins wants to infuse this satire into a twisty bank heist and, again, this seems like a pretty good idea. So with a nice beginning, an ingenious narrative device listing the various steps to robbing a bank, and a workable and intriguing plot--I'm sad to say that, ultimately, "How To Rob a Bank" still fell a bit short of success (for me anyway).

The cast includes Nick Stahl (generally underrated), Erika Christensen (still not fulfilling the great promise displayed in "Traffic"), Terry Crews and Gavin Rossdale. When a disillusioned and broke Stahl stumbles into a bank robbery in progress, he inadvertently gets locked into the vault with one of the robbers (Christensen). The plot to pillage the safety deposit boxes, however, is just a cover for a more sinister electronic theft. I think that the actual idea behind the whole heist is solid, creative and interesting. Stahl becomes a go-between for the detective on the scene (Crews) and the primary robber in the bank (Rossdale). Eventually everyone is plotting against everyone else, and it's a race to see who can be the master manipulator.

Sounds good, huh? The two biggest problems, however, also come in the scripting. The stylized dialogue and outright speechifying is not organic or believable. While I thought that some of the extended monologues had merit, they do not flow as realistic speaking and actually serve to slow the narrative. But, by far, the biggest liability in "How to Rob a Bank" comes from the three way interactions between Rossdale, Crews, and Stahl. So patently ridiculous in a film filled with smart notions, these pivotal exchanges come out as cartoonish. Crews, in particular, is a likable actor stuck in a moronic role! He doesn't even know how to contact a bank robber with hostages--he relies on Stahl to give him a cell phone number. No land lines, no bullhorns, nothing. This is just one bit of ineptitude when every scene featuring Crews is painfully and patently false.

I'd be curious to check out Jenkins' next project. I think he's got some good ideas, they just need to be refined into a more cohesive screenplay. "How to Rob a Bank" has promise, and I enjoyed Stahl--but it is wildly uneven. When a clever idea sinks under the weight of clunky and convenient execution, it's always a disappointment. About 2 1/2 stars. KGHarris, 12/10.

**1/2

"How to Rob a Bank" is a low-budget oddity in which a young private citizen (Nick Stahl) gets accidentally locked in a bank vault with a hot-and-sexy would-be robber (Erika Christensen). The trick is it's hard to tell whose side young Jinx is really on - the bank robbers' who are holding the employees and customers hostage on the other side of the steel door, or the cops`, led by Officer Degepse (Terry Crews of "Everybody Hates Chris"), who are stuck outside the bank trying to defuse the situation. Jinx is a customer mightily ticked off at how banks literally nickel-and-dime their depositors at every opportunity - and it is anger at this outrage that may inspire him to shift his loyalties to the malefactors in the final stretch.

Written and directed by Andrews Jenkins, the movie earns more points for creativity than it does for execution. The story is often needlessly gimmicky and confusing, the direction unpolished and lacking in finesse, and the performances low on subtlety and shading (though Stahl is very good). Plus, what with its made-on-the-cheap appearance, collection of pseudo-profundities and single-set mise-en-scene, "How to Rob a Bank" definitely has a film-school-project feel to it.

Still, it's kind of fun watching the movie turn the bank-robbery formula on its head, particularly in its blurring of the lines between the hostages and the hostage-takers, the law-breakers and the law-enforcers. Plus, for a little added kick, it has the late David Carradine appearing in a cameo role right at the closing moments.

I'll make this short and to the point but hopefully with enough to get you a basic outline of what to expect from this movie.

I thought the basic idea was pretty good but the dialogue in itself lacked moments at times, there are also several scenes that drag on and on (Mostly between the main character, Jinx, within the vault).

The effects are surprising, the soundtrack is pretty good. Some of the acting could have been done better and I think they should have improved with the Detective character. The way he delivered certain jokes practically ruined them.

What made me buy this movie, rent it, and watch it a couple of times? Gavin Rossdale. I've always been a big fan and his acting in this movie is amazing, he basically saved the movie and made it watchable.

I just skip to the parts that have him in them, he had some pretty entertaining moments and made the purchase worth while.

To close this up, I leave you with a few final words. If you're not a fan of Gavin Rossdale or don't have a clue who he is, this movie might have to be enjoyed by you in a different way.

My suggestion, if that is the case, is to kick back and relax. Enjoy the soundtrack and the few jokes tossed in the middle, you'll find it a quick and entertaining flick.

However, if you are a fan of Gavin Rossdale then you certainly will enjoy it no matter what.

I like this movie except for how it starts. I wish the intro for it could have been better. Over all it was still a good movie.

Talk about a poorly executed movie. How To Rob a Bank completely misses the mark in every single area. Two people are locked inside a vault. One of them is a hot chick who tagged along with the robbers. The other person in the vault is a guy who has a really smart mouth and thinks he's the most clever guy on the face of the planet.

The bad guys are on the other side of the vault, in the bank obviously, and taking the innocent people hostage. The cops are of course outside the bank waiting to either negotiate with the robbers or make an unexpected move.

Throughout the film, the bad guys constantly communicate with the guy in the vault. The storytelling is, quite frankly, extremely boring, tedious to watch, and completely uninspiring storytelling-wise.

If you're expecting a lot of suspense, trust me, you won't get any of that. As far as the acting goes, it's really bad by just about every one of the main characters (including the overdramatic and completely unbelievable lines involving the one cop outside the bank- ugh, brutal!)

I don't get the appeal of How To Rob a Bank. It's just a really terrible film from beginning to end.