15, 87 mins
From Steven Soderbergh’s production company and directed by Gregory Jacobs, Soderbergh’s former first assistant director, comes Criminal, a slightly inferior remake of an Argentine heist thriller called Nine Queens.
John C. Reilly is terrific as the snake-eyed trickster who offers to partner a young con-man (Diego Luna) for the day; Maggie Gyllenhaal gives weight to a small but crucial role as Reilly’s hostile sister.
It’s a persuasive, entertaining piece of film-making that jangles with nervous energy; the switchback twists of the plot could give Mamet a run for his money.
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What it lacks is Nine Queens’s distinct sense of place, the backdrop of a Buenos Aires on the verge of financial collapse, where every corner conceals another con artist. While it is not an entirely redundant remake, it adds nothing to the original.