Cast: Nick Nolte, Tchéky Karyo, Saïd Taghmaoui, Nutsa Kukhiani, Gérard Darmon, Emir Kusturica, Marc Lavoine
Director: Neil Jordan
Producers: Seaton McLean, John Wells, Stephen Woolley
Screenplay: Neil Jordan, based on the screenplay Bob le flambeur by Auguste Le Breton and Jean-Pierre Melville
Cinematography: Chris Menges
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Neil Jordan's The Good Thief works significantly better as a character piece than as a heist film. The movie, which is overplotted yet underwritten, cares more for its protagonist than for the circumstances he finds himself in. Unlike most caper films, The Good Thief expends little time and effort delving into the "nuts and bolts" details of the heist. We get some broad details, but, in the end, even attentive viewers will find themselves befuddled by what happens. This will undoubtedly cause some audience members to depart the theater in a state of frustration.
The Good Thief is a loose remake of the 1955 Jean-Pierre Melville noir homage Bob le flambeur. Jordan, whose diverse credits range from The Crying Game to Interview with the Vampire, is less interested in developing a strict remake than in using Melville's original as a jumping-off point. Many aspects of Bob le flambeur are either absent or have been changed, and much of what's on screen is of Jordan's devising.
Bob (Nick Nolte) is an American thief living in Paris. He has retired from his life of crime and is spending his days indulging his twin vices: gambling and heroin use. One day, he is approached with an offer to participate in a potential big score – the robbery of a casino. So Bob handcuffs himself to a bed for three days to rid his system of the drugs, then begins planning a complicated heist that will net him millions of dollars in precious artwork. Along the way, he must play cat-and-mouse games with Roger (Tchéky Karyo), the detective who dogs his every step. And, to further complicate matters, he has become the protector of a 17-year old girl, Anne (Nutsa Kukhiani), whom he saves out of prostitution. There's definitely some sexual chemistry between these two, although Jordan intentionally leaves it ambiguous whether their relationship is more than that of father and daughter.
There are times – some of them rather lengthy – when The Good Thief seems to ramble, and some of its plot devices (Nolte's "miraculous" recovery from heroin, Anne's ex-pimp's discovery of the real nature of the heist) strain the viewer's credulity. Indeed, the plotline as a whole contains more holes than are justified by the twists and turns, and the final surprise feels more like something that was tacked on than a legitimate element of the organic whole. Having said that, however, The Good Thief has its share of worthwhile sequences, the best of which follows Bob and Anne as they play a run of good luck at the casino gaming tables to its natural conclusion. There's more suspense in these scenes than in everything involving the heist.
Acting is a primary reason why The Good Thief doesn't fall on its face. Nolte is in peak form. playing a recovering addict. (I would say art imitating life, except that it's really the other way around – Nolte's infamous mug shot did not make the papers until after this movie was in the can.) He brings charisma and a certain self-deprecating wit to the part, and, even though Bob has his flaws (one of which is that he's a user), it's impossible not to like him. Tchéky Karyo is an able foil, showing far more than he did in the recent blockbuster The Core. And, while one can argue about whether Nutsa Kukhiani gives a good performance, it's impossible to deny that she has both screen presence and a palpable connection with Nolte. Ralph Fiennes, who has a cameo as an art broker, steals both scenes in which he appears, making everyone in the audience wish his character had been more integral to the proceedings.
The Good Thief probably has a greater capacity to disappoint than to pleasantly surprise, and it is a decidedly mixed bag. Those who enjoy the usual rhythms of a well-plotted caper movie will be depressed by this movie's inability to tie everything together. On the other hand, lovers of drama featuring quirky characters will find things to appreciate. The movie would have been better had Jordan honed the focus, but, even in its current form, it's certainly watchable.
© 2003 James Berardinelli