Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A small, wealthy family in New York City gets progressively torn apart by secrets, lies, and the theft that orchestrates all of it.
Sharper is a slick neo-noir con thriller with an interlocking chapter structure that gives it some initial freshness, but the twists feel telegraphed and the mechanics rely heavily on genre conventions borrowed from films like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Matchstick Men. The ensemble cast — Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith — performs competently but rarely transcends the material. Cinematography is polished and suits the Manhattan milieu without being visually distinctive. The con-within-a-con structure unravels satisfyingly in the middle but the finale feels anticlimactic and slightly rushed, undercutting the tension built. Not especially novel in conception, borrowing liberally from the prestige con-film playbook without adding a singular voice.