The Art of the Steal 2013

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Sobol encourages his excellent cast, which includes the iconic Terence Stamp as a federal informant and Jay Baruchel as the gang's weakest link, to steal scenes left and right. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: A derivative heist thriller-comedy that passes painlessly enough at a brisk 90 minutes, but ultimately feels as disposable as the numerous counterfeit paintings that exchange hands throughout. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Despite its all-too-familiar surface gloss, The Art Of The Steal has something more sophisticated going on inside. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: The end result satisfies both our vicarious greed and the desire some viewers will have to see a priceless work of art wind up in the hands of someone who couldn't care less about its price. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: The actors give it punch, but in the grand scheme of caper comedies, "The Art of the Steal" is more breathlessly imitative than authentic. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Snappy, clever, broadly comedic and too obvious for words, of which there are many. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Director Jonathan Sobol clearly understands the first rule of a good grift: misdirection. He packs his middling caper flick with so many known faces, it's easy to miss all the other familiarities. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: Matt Dillon and Kurt Russell may not make the most convincing half-brothers, but "The Art of the Steal" is a fairly amusing heist film with some sibling tension helping the story along. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: An uneven, mildly amusing, and highly derivative flick featuring a wonderful, quirky cast as a crew of art thieves who run a complex scam on the art world, and on each other. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's as if Sobol walked a tight-rope over the falls, got distracted by the view and then crawled back to safety. Read more

James Adams, Globe and Mail: As is often the case in these caper flicks, there's too much plot for insufficient dramatic effect, and alert viewers will suss out where it's all heading in the first five minutes. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Feels like a series of vignettes featuring smart quipping stars randomly strung together. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: The film is made up of plundered parts from the Oceans series and The Usual Suspects, and-like several of the forged tomes that figure in the plot-it's a pale imitation. Read more

Chris Packham, Village Voice: The Art of the Steal doesn't advance the nerdy intertextuality that has distinguished ironic crime films since Guy Ritchie, but writer-director Jonathan Sobol knows the ropes. Read more