Criminal Ways

What came first — the hit or the miss?  Not unlike the age-old chicken and egg dilemma, the question of what makes or breaks a movie has been debated ever since the camera started rolling.  Magnolia Home Entertainment’s recent DVD release, Criminal Ways, is a perfect example of the struggle between good film and bad film.  In watching this minorly cliché and majorly overplayed comedy about a band of jewel thieves who get caught up in a whirlwind of success as children’s entertainers, I couldn’t decide whether the awkward and absurd moments were actually quite funny because they were so ridiculous, or if it was just a bad movie working too hard to try to be good.  There was some charm in the old-school format of the plot, and it managed some minor twists that even I didn’t anticipate.  But fundamentally, it is a C-list movie hanging by a thread named Isla Fisher.  Yes, the recent breakout actress best known for Confessions of a Shopaholic is by no means the star of the plot-line, but studio marketing has made its best attempts to put Ms. Fisher’s face on all major publicity in hopes of spiking sales even just a little.  Who can blame them, though? Isla Fisher is dazzling and darling on screen, and steals the movie in presence, if not in screen-time.

Director and co-star to Fisher, Nick Giannopoulos, plays a desperately stifled actor/performer who gets scammed into aiding a diamond heist at a children’s birthday party.  At moments, I couldn’t stand to watch the antics that Giannopoulos pulled on screen (though, as director, he didn’t have the luxury of being able to watch himself).  Other times, though, I was intrigued and even a little entertained by his sense of outlandish comedy and performance.  Didn’t love him, but didn’t hate him either.

The rest of the cast of motley criminals plays similarly — all having good moments, and then some bad.  Most jokes are so elaborately set up that they fall flat before the punchline lands.  This seems to be the general tone that most of the movie takes — too much set up, not enough follow-through.  Don’t get me wrong — there is some genuine humor and enjoyment in it, but you kind of have to submit yourself to it a bit in order to enjoy.  I do not want to venture to say it is a terrible movie, nor do I want to stretch the truth and say it is a must-see.  It is the proverbial chicken and egg.  I can’t decide whether it is good-gone-bad or bad-gone-good.  I also can’t decide whether a wishy-washy opinion of something is better than a passionate like or dislike.  Bottom line: it is a hit and miss.  Some parts I liked, some parts I didn’t, and at the end, I didn’t really feel a strong inclination in any direction.  Available on DVD October 27^th, I’d say you are pretty safe not rushing out to reserve this one on Amazon.