Entrapment (1999)

Entrapment (1999) – An insurance investigator (Catherine Zeta-Jones) wants to bring the legendary art thief (Sean Connery) that has evaded every law enforcement agency for decades.  She decides to go undercover as a thief to lure him in.  She tempts him with the information he needs to not only pull off his dream theft but one more gigantic heist that would top everyone for all time.  Their lives become entwined in ways they never anticipated.

Directed by Jon Amiel                           Starring – Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ving Rames

It seems like such an easy shot.  Classic heist story line, well known cast.  Nothing to it, right?

Actually, right.  There is nothing to this movie, which is surprising given where it starts.  The script never really develops much of a story.  According to reports, the original idea was to fill the movie with mega-action scenes.  The studio (Twentieth Century-Fox) nixed that for budgetary reasons.  As it turned out that was an excellent idea.  While there are a couple interesting action scenes, they can not make up for the enormous hole in the story.  There’s just not much there.

I’m sure they were hoping that we would be enthralled by our two leads and glide over that small issue.  Both Connery and Zeta-Jones are easy on the eyes for their fans. The problem there is that there is exactly ZERO chemistry between them.  Connery appears to sleepwalking through the role, and Zeta-Jones simply doesn’t “read” right as a high end art thief.  The romance sub-plot dies aborning and their one love scene is one of the most awkward looking and unbelievable I’ve seen on the screen in a long time.  Still trying to cover the lack of anything really going on during the movie, we do get a couple modestly long scenes that focus mostly on watching KZJ’s butt.  I am absolutely serious.

Rated PG-13, the movie did make it’s costs back and a bit more.  Put this in the category of “It’s a rainy afternoon and I have ABSOLUTELY nothing else to do” movies.

Why I Liked It –  Connery and Zeta-Jones are easy to watch

Why You Will Like It –  Connery and Zeta-Jones are easy to watch

Rating – ** Not Impressed