Ben Affleck is a car thief who steals the identity of his prison cellmate to woo his pen-pal (not surprisingly considering she's played by Charlize Theron.) Unfortunately he doesn't count on her psychotic brother who is intent on using him in a armed robbery. This likeably daft heist movie takes a lot of cues from film noir and transplants them into a post Tarantino action film. Affleck is hardly the most charismatic leading man, but with Theron and Gary Sinise's amusing nutjob to play off there's plenty of character dynamics to make up for his shortcomings. It's briskly paced, has just the right combination of action and twists and turns to keep you interested and is tongue in cheek enough to make up for the numerous plot holes. It does lose half a star for it's cornball "happy holidays"... |
Rating of
2.5/4 |
