by Andrew Wright
The Italian Job
dir. Gray
Opens Fri May 30
Various Theaters
Be it Ocean’s Eleven or The Great Muppet Caper, there are few cinematic genres that have proven more dependably sturdy than that of the heist film. Properly executed, the concept–unflappable professionals doing their job, regardless of roadblock or interference from The Man–is unfuckwithable.
Taking the name (and not much else) from the ’60s Michael Caine Cockney classic, The Italian Job remains true enough to the heist formula to end up surprisingly gratifying. The set-up is thus: After the successful completion of the patented One Last Job in Venice, a close-knit team of supercrooks (led by idea man Mark Wahlberg, actually managing to convince that he has the proper number of synapses firing for the task) gets violently bilked from within (via the porn-mustachioed Edward Norton, whose public dissatisfaction with the project translates to an amusingly pissy onscreen turn). Revenge is plotted; cars are raced; property is destroyed; the audience is occasionally hoodwinked. What more does one need?
Director F. Gary Gray (Friday) and his team of screenwriters glide through the minefield of clichés with unflappable cool and occasional nuggets of unforced wit, even coming up with a valid reason for revisiting the original’s iconic use of those freakishly little Mini Coopers. On the thespian front, Seth Green, Charlize Theron and Mos Def provide sterling backup as, respectively, the team’s computer geek, sexpot safecracker, and demolitions expert. Attention Donald Sutherland junkies: your fix is here.
Obligatory double-cross and bodacious traffic jam aside, there are no real surprises or innovations to be found (particularly if you’ve seen the damnably A-Z trailer making the rounds), but the goodwill and easy charm of cast and crew counts for a lot. In a summer full of computer-generated, nu-metal-accompanied kicks to the midsection, this may be the closest you’ll get to drawing room grace.