Criminal *** (2000, John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal) – Classic Movie Review 1577

Despite the decent, quirky acting of the good cast, co-writer/co-producer/director Gregory Jacobs’s 2004 movie is a slightly disappointing if adequately twisty and entertaining American remake version of the much better 2000 Argentinian crime caper thriller film, Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas).

John C. Reilly stars as con artist Richard Gaddis, who takes on Rodrigo (Diego Luna) as his new young partner. The two odd-couple LA tricksters come across one of the most valuable pieces of currency in US history and set out to con a banknote collector by selling him a counterfeit copy of the extremely rare bill. Although Rodrigo distrusts Richard, he agrees to partner him on the gigantic scam, and they plan to sell a fraudulent version of a Silver Certificate currency note to rich antique currency collector William Hannigan (Peter Mullan) – the sting.

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Reilly’s long-suffering sister Valerie, a hotel concierge. When Hannigan starts to fancy the sexily uptight Valerie, Gaddis decides to bring her into the scam. But Richard is forced to tell their brother Michael (Jonathan Tucker) that he has cheated him out of his inheritance. This is of course a key point of the plot that twists and turns constantly on its way to a twist ending as Richard tries to cheat the others out of their share of the loot.

Steven Soderbergh co-writes (under the pseudonym Sam Lowry) and co-produces with George Clooney for their production company Section Eight. Sam Lowry is the hero of Brazil (1985), played by Jonathan Pryce. Soderbergh used the same name on The Underneath (1995).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1577

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