The Art of the Steal

2014 "It takes a great artist to pull off the perfect con"
6.3| 1h30m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 March 2014 Released
Producted By: The Weinstein Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Crunch Calhoun, a third-rate motorcycle daredevil and part-time art thief, teams up with his snaky brother to steal one of the most valuable books in the world. But it's not just about the book for Crunch — he's keen to rewrite some chapters of his own past as well.

Genre

Comedy, Crime

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The Art of the Steal (2014) is now streaming with subscription on Starz

Director

Jonathan Sobol

Production Companies

The Weinstein Company

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The Art of the Steal Audience Reviews

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made
Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Bob An This is a very entertaining movie! Every minute of it is interesting and I really enjoyed it a lot! It is fun and has a great story with a twist towards the end!I like art and movies about art theft are very interesting to me. This one had a Gaughuin and Seurat. But it is not a movie about the paintings but about the people behind the theft. I liked how they portrayed the 'minds' behind the operation. And they did shine alight on what are people's motives for the theft : money, art itself, fame.I found it was quite interesting that they told the story of Mona Lisa theft at the beginning of XX century. I read a book about it and remembered it while they were talking about the poor Italian who stole Mona Lisa.I also found it very nice that they did what they did with the original painting in the movie! I can imagine what a joy is to hold a masterpiece!This movie is not a masterpiece in its genre, but it is next best thing! I recommend!
Prismark10 Even with the acting talents of Kurt Russell, Matt Dillon and Terence Stamp this feels like a low rent and lower budget version of the Ocean 11 type films but with more grittiness and less smugness.Some of the Canadian location shooting helps with the atmosphere. Rusell plays a likable ex con Crunch who has done time in a Polish prison for his brother Nicky (Dillon.) Crunch recruits his old team together including his deceitful brother to forge replicas of valuable historical books that they plan to steal.Jay Baruchel plays the rookie so he gets the exposition along with the audience. Stamp plays an informer forms a comical double act with an uptight Interpol agent who is hell bent on bringing down Crunch and his gang.The film wants to be a stylish caper film like Gambit, with fast action and plenty of quips. Its formulaic and succeeds largely due to the charm of its cast. Anyone who have seen the television series Hustle or Leverage will suspect that there is more to the plot and the denouement is told in alternate flashbacks as we find out who the real mark was all along.
leonblackwood Review: The director really tried to make a clever Ocean's Eleven type movie about a group of friends who still paintings, but I didn't know what the hell was going on half of the time. When the story comes together at the end, it is pretty cleverly put together, but for some unknown reason, it just didn't gel together that well. The characters were lacking chemistry and the movie seemed to jump right in at the deep end so you don't get any depth about the individual criminals. On the plus side, it was good to see Kurt Russell back on the big screen with Matt Dillion and Terence Stamp but the storyline needed some work. Personally I think that the whole heist aspect was achieved way to easy, even with the police on there behind from beginning to end, but its way too confusing and it could have been more witty. Average!Round-Up: Were has Kurt Russell been? The last time that I saw him on the big screen was back in 2007 in the weird Death Proof by Quentin Tarintino, we're he was driving around, killing people in his car, until he meets his match with a be bunch of girls who don't take any crap. Anyway, I've always liked his quirky acting style from the Big Trouble In Little China days but he seems to have slowed down in the latter part of his career. Terence Stamp was a weird choice by the director for the ex criminal who helps the law take down the criminals, but he brings a sense of professionalism to the film. His annoying sidekick just won't shut up throughout the movie but I enjoyed the banter with Stamp. Matt Dillion plays the money hungry brother-in-law who gets his comeuppance in the end and Jay Baruchel plays his usual whining sidekick role which I have seen him play many times before. With all these personalities in the mix, the director really didn't use this actors that well because the script is sketchy and not pieced together that well.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $78,000 (Terrible!)I recommend this movie to people who are into there heist comedies about a group of criminals stealing paintings. 3/10
badfeelinganger Given a limited release by its studio, it's worth seeking out if you're tired of movies with nothing but superheroes and overused special effects.After a far-too-long six-year absence from the silver screen, Kurt Russell stars in the amusing, enjoyable heist movie The Art of the Steal, and he's its biggest asset. Russell began his career in some engaging Walt Disney productions, then proved his considerable acting ability as none other than The King in the 1979 TV-movie Elvis, then a year later delivered a sensational performance as the quintessentially dishonest, politically ambitious salesman in Robert Zemeckis's extraordinary comedy Used Cars. From there he etched memorable hero portraits as the futuristic criminal in Escape from New York and helicopter pilot in The Thing, both of which were directed by John Carpenter (who also helmed Elvis). He was affecting as the blue-collar boyfriends of Meryl Streep in Silkwood and Goldie Hawn in Swing Shift, convincingly played a Miami crime reporter in The Mean Season, and in 1986 he gave what still stands as his finest work as the washed-up ex-high-school-football jock in The Best of Times. He re-teamed with Hawn in the fine romantic comedy Overboard and was suavely duplicitous as Michelle Pfeiffer's policeman love interest in Tequila Sunrise. He even managed to rise above the dismal proceedings in Carpenter's obnoxious Big Trouble in Little China and Ted Kotcheff's opaque Winter People. In the next decade he had his share of hits (Tombstone and Executive Decision) and misses (Unlawful Entry and Breakdown), and never once could one accuse Russell of laying down on the job. So why not a box-office draw, someone who could consistently "open" a picture? (Sadly, his biggest box-office success was the atrocious Ron Howard-directed Backdraft.) Probably because, like Jeff Bridges, you never catch him "acting"; he approaches his craft with the utmost dedication, thinking in terms of his contribution to the movie overall rather than taking advantage of opportunities to distractingly steal scenes. American audiences are more receptive to actors who pander down to them, which is why mediocre performers like Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey have achieved the success they have; in Russell's case, he's simply had the misfortune of sticking to his scruples and respecting his craft -- he refuses to pollute his characters with trumped-up artificiality. In Dark Blue he delivered a galvanizing turn as a corrupt Los Angeles cop that was far more forceful than Denzel Washington's odious Training Day shenanigans, and in Quinten Tarantino's Grindhouse segment Death Proof, as Mike the Stuntman, he was, as he always has been, the very epitome of "cool." In Art of the Steal, Russell is simply marvelous, and what a pleasure it is to see him headlining a modestly budgeted picture and showing he can still effortlessly hold our attention throughout.