Crime 101 Review

Le sigh... It's just that time of year. We have to slog through this part before the hits start rolling in.

It's not that the movies are BAD, per se, but they do tend to be a bit underwhelming right now.

Good actors, meh movie (Crime 101)

Which leads us to Crime 101, starring Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, and Nick Nolte. Yes, that Nick Nolte.

Crime 101 is your typical heist, cat-and-mouse movie, but unlike its muse, Heat, this caper focuses more on the personalities of its characters than on tension-building and action.

Ruffalo and Hemsworth in Crime 101

Hemsworth is a (semi-)moral-coded thief, Ruffalo is the detective in dogged pursuit of the Highway 101 thief, Berry plays an insurance broker, and I won't spoil Keoghan's role. Unfortunately, due to trying to flesh out each one of these characters, you end up with a muddled mess. Berry is not given any meat for her part, and you're left wondering, "Why underutilize her?" Other characters are seemingly forgotten by the end of the movie, and the finale becomes very sanitized and cleaned up. Happy endings for all!

The movie would have been better served if we could've gotten more behind the story with Nolte and Hemsworth. Or seen more of the methodical planning Hemsworth does before his heists, but there are too many things left unexplored to make you want to really care about any of these characters.

It struggles to find its footing, and Hemsworth seems a bit miscast trying to play an awkward, brooding misfit. They try to make him a Robin Hood-type character, but it never fully commits. Ruffalo is great with what little he's given, and Keoghan just stressed me out every time he appeared on screen.

Not worth a $20 ticket, but if you'd like to check your brain for a watered-down version of Heat, then hit a theater for $5/6 night. 3/5