The Italian Job

Exciting heist film for teens and their families.

This one offers some agreeably mindless fun in which the villains (including Norton) are truly villainous, the payback is satisfying in a purely infantile way, and the familiarity of everything is oddly comforting.

Itresembles a film made up on the fly. The cast, too, are strictly cut from comic books. Don't expect any unconventional endings either.

This unglamorous approach has the odd effect of making them seem more glamorous -- we're free to soak up their star quality because there's no hard sell to fight off.

Memories of the 1960s caper classic are obliterated by this pointless remake, which uncomprehendingly salvages a few elements from the original, while behaving as if no one involved cared or liked it much anyway.

It is smart, funny, wellplotted and performed and as slick as a Vaselined eel. If you have to remodel a classic for a new age, this is the way to do it.

The support cast isn't much better. Jason Statham just repeats his Transporter role, while the permanently grumpy Norton has made it clear his participation was a result of contractual obligation...

...a seriously lazy would-be blockbuster that's nevertheless affable and breezy enough to warrant a mild recommendation.

It is in Gray's spirited execution that such by-the-book formula makes for a brisk, slick entertainment hits the summer movie spot.

A fun bit of action comedy with a bang up cast.