The Age of Commercialism

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The first thing I did after watching this film was take it to my friends house and watch it again. I was so taken up with the cast the witty lines and the hand to mouth existence that the main character personifies. The acting was superb with the feelings of each character portrayed so well that it's almost impossible to take your eyes off the screen. The timing of each line was done so masterfully you're drawn even further into the story. I've read some of the other reviews and I honestly believe that this film is worth far more than they're giving. It's lighthearted nature, range of believable and identifiable characters as well as the sheer brilliance of its time and pacing has made this one of my favorite films of all time.

My summary basically points out the only reason this movie may be worth the watch. Erika Christensen is extremely hot and she gets an enormous amount of screen time. If that's enough for you to watch a movie go for it. Else - pass on the experience.Jinx (Nick Stahl) is having a bad day. Hungry and frustrated he tries to retrieve his 20 dollars from the ATM machine only to find out that he doesn't have enough funds to pay the $1.50 surcharge. Angry he heads to his local bank unaware it was being robbed. Panicking he locks himself in the bank vault with bank robber Jessica (Erika Christensen), whom he quickly ties up. The robbers want in, whilst Jinx wants out... and his 20 bucks.The plot actually sounds promising and given a proper director with some feel for building the suspense it might actually work. This director however went for Fight Club type editing and a script trying so hard to be intelligent, that it fails to notice how stupid it is. Add to that some really poorly acted sequences and an absolute lack of suspense and this is what you get... One of the worse bank robbery movies in living memory.

How this was ever turned into a movie I honestly have no idea. What is even more amazing is the excellent cast would have anything to do with it. Nick Stahl, Erika Christensen, Gavin Rossdale, & Terry Crews are all quite talented, too bad they have nothing good for them to do. This reminded me of a a failed TV pilot that just wasn't any good so it wasn't aired. I respect what the writer/director was trying to do, sorry he failed miserably. This made a total of 1K in theaters then to video, and for good reason it sucks. Please don't bother wasting your time or your money with this very good looking (the cinematography is looks great) yet utterly pointless & extremely boring film.

How Rob a Viewer is more like it. I just saw this on On Demand HD Cable. For the first time ever with On Demand I really want my $ 6.99 back! I saw that this was an independent movie with a first time director released by IFC and it looked like it might be a cool little flick. Boy was I wrong. This thing is one of the worst films I have ever seen. If I had any power I would nominate this for a Razzie Award. It would win. Definitely the worst film of the year nomination. The story goes nowhere cinematically, photographically or thematically. Some of the acting is worse than a high school drama. Witness the exchange between the COP on the street and the angry young man trapped in the bank. I don't know if I can blame the actors as they look completely lost, as if they have no idea of what they are supposed to be doing and no direction. The lead performances are schizophrenic, without tracking any kind of performance. One minute the man trapped in the bank vault, with the horribly cheese ball sexy receptionist, is freaking out in a panic and the next he is chill and calm and delivering smooth cool lines to the femme fatal. Horrible. The dialog is trying so hard to be clever but it trips all over it's self conscious self. The clumsy attempt to message this plot out with a angry protest cry at banks for charging $ 1.50 ATM fees is laughable - but not funny.The direction and production blatantly audition for an ultra mainstream Hollywood production in attempts to look slick and keep the camera fluid but just call attention to itself in it's half baked passionless, committee driven excuse for a movie. IFC I want my $ 6.99 back.