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The Score (2001) WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW.
The Digest Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) has been living a full life for some years now. On most days, he is the owner of an upscale Jazz club in Montreal. On other days he is a safe cracker. Nick is ready to give it all up and just concentrate on his club and work on his relationship with his long time girlfriend, Diane (Angela Bassett). Well his best friend and "fence" for the last 25 years, Max (Marlon Brando), has other plans. Max has come across a Scepter that belonged to King Louis XIV worth about 30 million dollars. Max has mounting debts and has set his eyes on that prize. First he must convince Nick to take the gig. Max has a contact in the Customs Office where the Scepter is being held - an arrogant upstart named Jackie (Edward Norton) who has zero respect for Nick. That's only part of the problem. Nick prefers to work alone. He likes to be in control of the situation and with Jackie, he has no control what so ever. The cut that Max offers proves to be too much for Nick to pass on. He convinces himself that with this final gig, he will have enough money to give up his life of crime and settle down with Diane. He'll be home free as long as Jackie doesn't blow it with his constant second-guessing and immature mistakes. The Dish Good movie. I was very disappointed by the fact that Angela Bassett was so under used. There was really no point in her being in the movie. There was no point in having any female interest in the movie for that matter, because the character was not fleshed out enough. Diane appeared about every 30 mins, swapped spit with Nick and then she was gone. Surprisingly, I loved Marlon Brando. I've never had an opinion of his acting one way or the other. "Godfather" is a classic, no doubt, but he never really did anything much for me. Seeing him has made me hope for more scripts to come his way. One thing that annoyed me with him, though was his voice, He sounded like Minnie Mouse and I don't understand why he went that route with his character. Another surprise was Jamie Harrold playing a 20 something super hacker. The 10 minutes of screen time he had, had me cracking up. He was a stereotypical hacker; living in his parent's basement; surviving on pizza and Jolt; and on the computer 20 hours a day. Even though I was laughing at him, I have to tell you that he would not have been my child. The way he spoke to his mother was horrible! Nevertheless, I glad he was in the movie. It is very difficult to match De Niro on screen. He chews up every scene and spits it out and whomever he is working with is left in the dust. Not so this time. I think De Niro really toned things down and let "Nick" be mellow, laid back, and a little vulnerable. Also, I think that Edward Norton is one of the most under-rated actors around (check out "Primal Fear"). He really has begun to master his craft and I look forward to seeing him on screen again. I've even begun to forgive him for Fight Club. Not everything was perfect, mind you. The plot started to wind down in the middle of the heist so the ending was a bit anti-climatic. But despite this, I really enjoyed myself. It was wonderful to watch a movie for adults. You know what I mean? I'm not talking about an "adult movie" as in porno. I mean a movie where mature adults are portraying mature adults. Nick was running after some 20 year old. Ya know? The Directive This is a great date movie for mom and date. Leave the kids at home and grab dinner and a movie.  Touchdown
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Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | The Score | Legally Blonde