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I caught Criminal, which is a note-for-note American remake of Nine Queens,
the first film from Argentine Fabián Bielinsky. They're a tricky thing,
these remakes of heist films (which is what Queens/Criminal is) - if you've
seen the original, the update is breathlessly anti-climactic. Unless, that
is, the newer version has been radically changed in some way to keep the
know-it-alls second-guessing their own art house cred.
Debut filmmaker Gregory Jacobs - an assistant director for the likes of John
Sayles, Hal Hartley, Richard Linklater and Steven Soderbergh (the latter of
whom co-adapts the script under the pseudonym Sam Lowry) - doesn't alter
much from Bielinsky's story. Young Con (Diego Luna, The Terminal) is taken
under the wing of Old Con (John C. Reilly, Gangs of New York), at which time
they stumble on the grift of a lifetime involving the sale of extremely rare
currency (stamps in the original) to a financial tycoon (Peter Mullan, Young
Adam) who happens to be staying in the posh hotel where Old Con's sister
(Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mona Lisa Smile) works as a concierge.
Like any film about con men, things are not always as they seem in Criminal.
You usually don't know who's playing who until the very end.at least if you'
ve not seen the original. I did, and as a result, Criminal was like déjà vu
all over again. All I could do was sit back and think about how much
curvier Queens' Leticia Brédice was than Gyllenhaal. Granted, it was pretty
neat to see the Hard Eight reversal, with Reilly playing the Expert this
time around. But that ain't enough to keep a guy interested.
Bottom line: If you haven't seen Queens, you'll probably dig Criminal
(especially if you enjoyed films like Matchstick Men) If you have, your
time would be spent more wisely elsewhere. Like sitting home and watching
the Red Sox spank the feculent, steroid-laden Wankees.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38682 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1322415 X-RT-TitleID: 1136568 X-RT-SourceID: 595 X-RT-AuthorID: 1146 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10
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