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Such a frustrating disappointment

Just perfect...

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

David Mamet loves confidence tricksters. He understands the art of the con and he likes writing about the subject. When Mamet writes or directs a film about con men you know its a multi layered experience.Heist though is a misfire. It stars Gene Hackman and Rebecca Pidgeon as husband and wife as well as Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo and Sam Rockwell.Gene Hackman and his gang are forced by DeVito to steal a shipment of Swiss gold and has his nephew (Sam Rockwell) to tag along. He has an eye for Pidgeon and no one wants to share the proceeds of the heist.Its hard boiled with hard cursing and some Mamet regulars such as Ricky Jay. However Hackman is too old to be Pidgeon's husband and Pidgeon as an actress is weak here. The plot is too complicated as its based on a double cross on a double cross as well as a shootout where the bad guys have to be poor shots for any overall plan to work.The acting from Hackman, DeVito, Lindo and Rockwell make the film watchable but its a missed opportunity from Mamet.

You'll lose count at all the twists in David Mamet's "Heist," starring Gene Hackman, Rebecca Pigeon, and Danny DeVito.One distraction here is that when I first saw Hackman and Pigeon, I thought Pigeon was Hackman's grandfather. Then I found out she was his wife. There's only a 35-year difference.Gene Hackman plays the leader of a gang robs jewels and fences them with Mickey (Danny DeVito). Mickey stiffs the gang on their latest heist in order to get them to steal a shipment of Swiss gold. As an added negative, he wants his nephew (Sam Rockwell) to go along with them.The crimes themselves are clever, but there are so many twists in this story -- and you have no idea what's a real circumstance and what's a machination by the Hackman character and just seems like it's happening, but isn't. And you won't know at the end of the movie, either.The performances are fine, except I didn't think Rebecca Pigeon registered much. I don't think it was that good a role. Danny DeVito probably had the best one as the mean as dirt fence.I loved House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner; this one doesn't come up to either one of those.

Forgettable. Talking tough. Another reviewer felt that writer/director David Mamet was 'trying too hard'--I feel that's being overly generous. The movie is silly. The characters are all so fanciful and pretentious yet are supposed to be gritty seasoned criminals. Mamet wrote and directed a farcical melodrama, the only thing missing was the music of a pipe organ accompanying each scene. It ends up being a lot of work to watch this movie because all the characters are so fake and the plot is so overwrought. Film Noir works best when done simply, just stark contrasts repeated until credits roll. Mamet focuses too much on words and the interplay between actors, all to the detriment of the set, the lighting, the editing and the overall tone of the movie. Its not a play, its a movie, don't film it as a play.

Heist is written and directed by David Mamet. It stars Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, Rebbecca Pidgeon and Ricky Jay. Music is by Theodore Shapiro and cinematography by Robert Elswit. Joe Moore (Hackman) and his small band of thieves are "coerced" into taking on one last big job by their shifty fence Mickey Bergman (DeVito). But when Bergman's nephew Jimmy Silk (Rockwell) is sent along on the heist with them, it could prove to be a recipe for disaster?The "one last job" theme is a familiar plot device in many a crime and noir picture, but as Mamet proves here, it can still remain fresh if given its own sheen. Divisive amongst Mamet's fans and seen as a lesser light in the director's neo-noir output, Heist improves greatly upon a second viewing. In fact it holds up as a clinically executed piece of noirish cinema, it's smart, crafty and laced with essence of cool.You're a piece of work!I came all the way from China in a matchbox.Structured around twists and tricks, where nothing is ever as it seems - including the wonderfully ambiguous finale - Heist positively thrives on the snap, crackle and pop of Mamet's dialogue, dialogue that comes trickling off the tongues of characters whose loyalties/dis-loyalties are never 100% certain. Quite often what is being said is in clipped format, where the meaning is different to what is actually being said, while visual exchanges, also, sometimes mean more than it appears at first glance. Make no bones about it, this is no ordinary caper movie, it's labyrinthine in plotting and the director toys with the conventions of the formula.My MOFO is so cool when sheep go to bed they count him!Visually Mamet and DOP Elswit keep the colours smooth, but they do throw in some interesting angles and use smoky lenses to accentuate the possibility of cloudy means and motives. Acting performances are mostly excellent. Hackman underplays it perfectly as a world weary crim who may or may not be one step ahead of the game? Lindo is muscular and cool, Jay a stoic side-kick, DeVito slimy and Pidgeon (Mamet's wife) provides layers as the fulcrum femme. Only real disappointment comes with Rockwell as the poisonous adder in the thieves nest. A few years away from becoming the great actor he is now, Rockwell here lacks a dangerous dynamism, a raw sexuality to really make the integral character work to its potential.Elsewhere there's flaws, such as the key heist involving an aeroplane that stretches credibility to breaking point; a shame since the opening robbery that introduces us to the characters is brilliantly constructed, and the big "shoot-out" scene lacks the energy to really raise the pulse; but even within that scene is a great moment as DeVito's Mickey Bergman, in amongst the flying bullets, shouts out the question: "why can't we just talk?", why indeed? You see, in Mamet's badly under valued neo-noir, talk is everything. Beautifully so. 8/10