BEFORE: I caught up on a lot of TV this weekend, even though I had to work a few hours on Saturday. Fortunately it looks like the airwaves will be pretty dead this month, so I can buckle down and catch up, plus watch movies. Keeping the crime theme going, this one's directed by the great Sidney Lumet ("12 Angry Men", "The Verdict"), and enables me to send Birthday SHOUT-out #54 to Dustin Hoffman (last seen in "Midnight Cowboy"). Linking from last night, I lucked out again - Jay O. Sanders was in "Glory" with Matthew Broderick (last heard in "The Tale of Despereaux"), who plays Hoffman's son here.
THE PLOT: A robbery brings a family of criminals together.
AFTER: And it's a very multi-cultural family at that. The patriarch, a career criminal, is Irish (or is it Scottish?) and his son (Hoffman) is half-Sicilian, and the son is married to a Jewish woman, making his son (Broderick)...well, American, I guess.
As another in a long list of happy accidents, both last night's film and tonight's film feature break-ins at research facilities as a plot point.
Again, it's hard to have the central characters in a film appear sympathetic, but this film comes pretty darn close. It's good to see three generations of a family put aside their differences and bond, even if they're bonding over a heist. There does appear to be some honor among thieves, and with the colorful stories that the father and grandfather tell about the old days, it's no wonder that the third generation wants to get in on the action.
A dilemma arises when one of the characters gets caught during the robbery - leading the other two to decide whether to proceed with the delivery of the stolen goods, or turn them in to lessen the charges. I wouldn't dream of spoiling the result - but it plays out in a way that feels very real with regards to the family relationships.
Also starring Sean Connery (last seen in "Rising Sun"), with cameos from Deborah Rush (last seen in "Julie & Julia"), Victoria Jackson (last seen in "Baby Boom"), B.D. Wong and Luis Guzman (last seen in "Anger Management").
RATING: 5 out of 10 security codes
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