The Set Up

Personally, I found the movie be pretty good. It was refreshing to see Billy Zane in a non-psychopathic role for once. All of the actors gave it their best. There wasn't a weak link in the production. And the plot twists were about what you would expect from a caper/extortion story line. All caper movies these days have betrayals and twists, so if you watch enough of them you can mostly predict who is going to betray who. But this one at least tried to convince you that some things were different than they turned out to be. The soundtrack was the typical late 80s to mid 90s cheap synthesizer crapola but that's what you got from Showtime in those days to keep the budget in the grade B zone.

I always thought Mia Sara was one beautiful lady, and in this one you get to see a few brief flashes of her breasts and bod, so that added to the enjoyment for us 90s Noir fans.

All in all, if you aren't one of those complainers who are never satisfied, you might enjoy it.

I wonder why are there so few reviews and so little discussion about this movie? At first, it's seems like a typical 1995 b-movie with the exact feel from that era. It started off great. Nicely filmed, starring Billy Zane (normally an excellent actor), James 'freakin' Coburn! Yes, Our Man Flint himself. How can it go wrong? Oh, man does it go wrong.

I caught it for free on Amazon Prime and I should have been paid to watch it. I suggest that you get together with a group of friends with your remote handy. Every time someone in the cast does something that is completely foreign to what a normal human who lives on earth would do, take a shot of beer. By the end of the movie, you and all your friends will be rip- roaring drunk and projective vomiting on each other between fits of laughter. For extra credit, have a bottle of jack Daniels handy. Every time one of the characters makes an unfulfilled threat such as: "You have (fill in blank) seconds to (fill in blank: Do something) or I'm going to (fill in blank: Do you some manner of harm)" and then doesn't do ANYTHING AT ALL, please take a shot. It will add to the hilarity. Examples - Direct Quote: "If I don't see her in exactly five seconds, I'm going to kill you!" 1-2-3-4-5. Nothing. Direct Quote: "If you ever touch me again, I'll kill you!" The guy touches him again MULTIPLE TIMES yet doesn't get killed. This happens over and over and over and over again. All kidding aside, who is the writer of this movie? There is no way he has ever written a movie.

Horrific writing, truly absurd plot twists, a serious gem of stupidity and cliché movie-making. Should most definitely be part of any bad movie aficionado arsenal!

Oddball actor Billy Zane plays an ex-con master thief who's forced to help with a daring bank heist. This made-for-Showtime movie isn't terrible, but it's also not all that good. The fun parts are when James Coburn realizes his home security system installer did prison time as a master thief, and hires him to design his new high-tech bank security system. It's also fun to see Ferris Bueller's girlfriend, Mia Sara, in something besides that film and Legend. The rest of the film is blandly by-the-numbers, and offers pretty much zero originality or anything to make this film recommendable, except for maybe Zane's hilariously dated wannabe George Clooney 90s Caesar haircut. The film also features James Russo (OEN RANGE, BEVERY HILLS COP), Louis Mandylor (MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING), and the great Tiny Lister (FRIDAY, JACKIE BROWN).

AI CAPSUL REVIEW: *The Set Up* (1995) is a blandly by-the-numbers Showtime heist flick saved only by its quirky cast. Billy Zane, James Coburn, and Mia Sara bring some fun moments, but the film's lack of originality makes it forgettable despite a few amusing touches.