US EditionMovie Review: ‘Crime 101’ is a middle of the road L.A. heist movie, with ‘Heat’ around the corner
- Reviewers say Crime 101 lands as a `Heat`-influenced heist film, but it ends up stuck in the middle of the road, despite some basic appeal, says AP Film Writer.
- Layton adapted Don Winslow's novella to explore heist tropes, drawing on his long fondness for the genre and focusing on central characters wrestling with their need or desire for more.
- Chris Hemsworth's Mike Davis executes stealthy robberies along the 101 freeway while Mark Ruffalo's Detective Lou Lubesnick spots a pattern amid departmental indifference.
- Mark Ruffalo's performance deepens his detective, and Erik Wilson's cinematography gives the film a cool sheen; the Amazon MGM release is rated R, critics say.
- As a heist primer, the film gestures to classics like Heat with its opening image of floating skin particles and 101 freeway crimes, but critics say it won’t unseat The Asphalt Jungle or Rififi.
28 Articles
28 Articles
'Crime 101' Is A Slick, But Safe Tribute To The LA-Set Heist
Amazon MGMContrary to its cheeky title, Crime 101 is not a tale about a mild-mannered professor who moonlights as a thief. Its true conceit is much more familiar — maybe to its detriment, as the feature debut from Bart Layton has lifted its story from countless better movies.Crime 101 lifts heavily from the oeuvre of Michael Mann, particularly Heat, in setting this thriller in Los Angeles. The “101” in its title is for the 101 freeway, which our…
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East Bay TimesReview: ‘Crime 101’ doesn’t waste its eye-popping cast
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The Sun (Lowell)
Sentinel and EnterpriseMovie Review: ‘Crime 101’ is a middle of the road L.A. heist movie, with ‘Heat’ around the corner
By JAKE COYLE, AP Film Writer Bart Layton’s “Crime 101” is a “Heat” pastiche that, even if it falls well shy of its Michael Mann blueprint, has some basic appeal going for it. Los Angeles crime movies are fun. Chris Hemsworth looks good in a suit. And we’re all suckers for savvy criminals with good escape routes. Just as Robert De Niro’s Neil McCauley strategized along L.A.’s asphalt arteries in “Heat,” Mike Davis (Hemsworth) works exclusively u…
‘Crime 101’ review: Ensemble shines in neo-noir love letter to Los Angeles
Going into the new cops-and-crooks thriller “Crime 101,” you may be expecting a drama about a mentor offering a protege an introductory college-level course of sorts from one side of the law or the other. However, the title of this engrossing star-stacked work — adapted from Don Winslow’s 2020 novella and landing in theaters this week — refers to U.S. Route 101, a highway commonly referred to by Southern Californians as “The 101.” With heavy hit…
Movie review: LA heist film 'Crime 101' an unsubtle nod to 'Heat'
It’s nearly impossible to resist Michael Mann’s 1995 epic crime saga “Heat” — especially for many filmmakers, who often can’t ignore the siren call to make their own Los Angeles-based crime movie featuring a psychologically complex relationship between a perfectionist…
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