Criminal

A $750,000 ONE-NIGHT SCORE AWAITS RICHARD & RODRIGO IS THEY CAN FLIM-FLAM AN ANTIQUE CURRENCY COLLECTOR - A RUSE SOON PACKEDWITH MORE TWISTS THAN A BOX A PRETZELS.

Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly) catches young Rodrigo (Diego Luna) conning some casino waitresses out of chump change and decides the guy is just the right chump to help him run other local scams. The slyest thing about this diverting remake of the 2000 Argentinian heist flick Nine Queens is, in fact, how much everybody seems to have a scam in the works--there isn’t a single honest soul in sinful, sunbeaten Los Angeles. Richard and Rodrigo soon get caught up in a big swindle concerning some counterfeit currency, a game that ensnares Gaddis’ angrily estranged sister Valerie (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the concierge of the hotel that’s hosting the guys’ main mark (Peter Mullan, coolly brutish). What happens next isn’t really anything new--The Sting, anyone?--and the requisite final twist might not hold up to closer inspection, but director Gregory Jacobs knows how to lie back and it keep it gliding affably along (he served as an assistant director on nearly all of Steven Soderbergh’s films). The performers all hook into the low-key vibe: Reilly’s schlub persona fits snugly into his small-time grifter role, while Luna and Gyllenhaal seem more simmering and sexy in each new shot. The movie is as entertaining and inessential as L.A. itself. --Steve Wiecking