“Lying and Stealing” Review by Melissa Sloter
July 21, 2019 8:58 am |
**This review contains spoilers for Lying and Stealing**
Lying and Stealing, written by Matt Aselton and Adam Nagata and directed by Aselton, opens with two quotes. The first, a Yiddish proverb, presented on a title card, reads “when a thief kisses you, count your teeth.” The second, delivered by Theo James’ voiceover on a technically stunning long panning shot swimming through an elite house-party, is this: “an accomplished bank robber and escape artist, Willie Sutton, was once asked by a reporter why he robbed banks. Sutton remarked, ‘because that’s where the money is.’” Those familiar with Sutton know that he denied making this remark but wrote in his autobiography that he robbed banks because he enjoyed it. By the end of the film those unfamiliar with Sutton’s story will be familiar; not only because the narrator revises Sutton’s quote for us, presenting it as a lie Sutton once told but because the two opening narrative devices lay the roadmap for the trajectory of the film.
Ivan (Theo James) is a savvy thief, using street smarts and technology to relieve the ultra rich from their priceless art. We learn he’s working for Dimitri (Fred Melamed) to pay off a debt belonging to his late father. Dimitri is a dangerous crime boss with a penchant for pretty girls and cocaine; these vices end up his downfall. The pretty girl in question is Elyse (Emily Ratajkowski), a grifter herself working off a debt to a Hollywood producer who is holding her career hostage. When Ivan and Elyse meet at a party they both lie about their names but neither is phased as they become allies and partners working towards their respective goals.
While not the strongest entry in the heist genre it is still a thrill seeing good thieves at work. That thrill, combined with James and Ratajkowki’s palpable chemistry and Giova Ostinelli and Sonya Belousova’s tension building electronica score, make for a seriously enjoyable, if shallow, film experience.
The plot becomes muddled in the back-half as Ivan realizes his self-proclaimed father figure and boss means to have him killed but how we get there matters less once the film comes to it’s subverted conclusion. The film never dips into the out-and-out violence of an action thriller to wrap up it’s plot choosing instead to have our thieves outsmart the villain, causing him to have a cocaine overdose and avoiding repercussions of the death.
Lying and Stealing doesn’t have anything heavy on it’s mind but that makes it a worthy summer film. In the end, thieves steal because they like it, and we like watching them.
PCL Rating: Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
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