Review of The Good Thief (2003) by Andy F — 08 Apr 2004

Nolte the drugie, the gambler, the thief.

Sounds like an amazing character, until you add the plot line of "one last heist and I'm out for good", which plagues our washed up over the hill-collect the "crew" - main character and which plagues, basically, the genre.

Expectation running high in the RED for Nolte to deliver a performance that mirrors "Affliction" and "The Thin Red Line", however, we are running low on gas, fumes, I tell you, fumes, cuz our buddie Nick meanders thru the character, smoking forty cigarettes, waiting for the words "cut" and "that's a wrap".

Jordan pushes hard to develope Nolte's character quickly by using one location and the scenic views of M.C. However, the badly disjointed beginning, combining all the vices, traits and you've-seen-this-character-before actions, leave you with a cardboard cut out of the character known as: you've-seen-this-character-before.

We never have time to be consumed by Nolte's character's habits and identity, coupled with the misguided fatherless runaway teenager which Notle "saves" who in turns "saves" him, i.e. the "cold turkey" scene, we move quickly away from: Nolte the down and out - to - Nolte the masterthief, everything is under control, I love it when a play comes together, character.

Writing the above paragraph, the film sounds like a decent one, but trust me, it doesn't play out well thru Jordan's eye.

The Good Thief is BAD. Jordan adds the scenic views, which do little, and the international cast, which do little, and then the hiest, which includes a trans-sexual, does that make it cool? No, it just adds to the agony of a slow moving film that had the chance to break away from the card-board-gambling flicks, you've seen these characters before movies. Well, I'll give it a couple of points because it was void of voice over. That was the only thing missing out of this Gambler Flick.

The Good Thief = 4.