Lying and Stealing

I didn't expect anything from this and I found it watchable. The art thieving all came a little too easily. I liked the bad guy character, the tubby old guy. I've always liked him although I can't recall his name. Maybe it's better not knowing, tat way I always see him for the part he's playing--the mark of a truly good actor.

The story just sort of devolves into silliness and really doen't make much sense. His brother's character never really gets off the ground, but not from lack of trying...or screen time.

I like the whole idea of stealing from rich creeps, most of whom wouldn't know a true masterpiece from a child's painting.

This film has an upbeat tone, an engaging story, stylish locations and beautiful leads. What's not to like? I very much enjoyed watching it.

Despite not being all that memorable, it does have its own firm legs to stand on and is pretty enjoyable. Cast and crew did a pretty decent job and never once did I feel that my time was stolen throughout the film, which is saying something nowadays. As pointed out by others, pacing could use a bit of tightening but more of a nitpicking point on our viewer-behalf. Solid 6 stars from yours truly.

Ivan Warding (Theo James) is working off his father's debt to the Greek Dimitri (Fred Melamed) by stealing art works from wealthy art patrons. He teams up with Elyse (Emily Ratajkowski) to help him get out from under the Greek, but an FBI Agent (Isiah Whitlock Jr) appears to be locking in on Ivan. Oh, oh.

Most of the movie is watching Ivan steal and get away with it. This is not a comedy but we do hear some good lines all around. We do watch a good conversation/interview between the FBI Agent (character name not given in the credits) and Ivan in a diner. The FBI Agent knows what Ivan is doing and wants Ivan's boss.

We see good chemistry between Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski and she is pretty and can act too.

However, there are 3-scenes that didn't make any sense to me: (1) The FBI Agent urinates in his partner's desk drawer. Why? (2) Dimitri apparently sends someone to Ivan's apartment to find the Hitler painting which he didn't find, and makes off with a safe. Do we see what was in the safe? No. Why? (3) We see Ivan doing something with a glass of water, we think it was water. What was all that about? Never explained.

Apparently many scenes were cut, but the story needed something more than just watching Ivan steal things and hear some good banter.

Notable: Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ray, Ivan's bipolar brother.

Even with the questions above, this was still entertaining and was okay to say the least. (5/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes. Nudity; Yes, brief. Humor: Some good lines are heard. Language: No. Rating: C

Lying And Stealing might not be the best heist movie ever but it doesn't pretend to be the best heist movie so it's okay. The heists are quite simple, nothing sofisticated at all, most of the time they just walk out with the art, but it's entertaining and that was enough for me. It could have used more suspense to make it a really good movie, you never have that feeling with any of the heists and that's a bit of a letdown. The acting wasn't bad, the cinematography was good, so all in all it's worth a watch, just don't expect a gem.