Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Crunch Calhoun, a third-rate motorcycle daredevil and part-time art thief, teams up with his snaky brother to steal one of the most valuable books in the world. But it's not just about the book for Crunch — he's keen to rewrite some chapters of his own past as well.
The Art of the Steal is a modestly entertaining heist-comedy with a decent ensemble and a plot that delivers a handful of twists, but it treads very familiar Ocean's-lite territory without adding much new to the genre. The acting is competent and occasionally charming, particularly from Kurt Russell and Matt Dillon, but no one is given material to truly shine. Cinematography is functional and unremarkable for a mid-budget Canadian production. Novelty is low — the con-within-a-con structure and brotherly betrayal arc are genre staples executed capably but not distinctively. The ending resolves things satisfactorily with a crowd-pleasing final twist, landing it slightly above average without being genuinely surprising.