Lying and Stealing Movie Review

Lying and Stealing

Movie Review

3.76 out of 5 Stars

Lying and Stealing is an art heist movie that came out last year, starring Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski. Theo's character, Ivan, is closing out a debt his father owns to an art dealer by going to the wealthiest houses in Los Angeles and taking their precious artwork. Elyse is a struggling actor, not because she's bad at acting, but because a producer blackballed her from getting roles when she wouldn't sleep with him, then stole from him, and made sure his wife found out. To get out of his debt, she owes him some obscene amount of money which she is trying to earn in small foreign films and petty theft. Surprise, surprise, Ivan and Elyse team up for one last job.

 I'm not sure there's anything original about this movie. It's a heist; it's the last job; there's a team-up. . . all in all, it's pretty basic. I still really enjoyed it, but I just feel like the main through-lines for this kind of story were all things that I've seen before. Now, I love those stories and I absolutely hate when they're cheesy or over-the-top, and thankfully, this was not one of those movies. It was a heist that felt like it could be real, which is really what makes this genre so enjoyable for me to watch.

When it comes to the acting, I personally think the actors did a good job. I came across this movie because of Theo James however, so there may be some bias affecting this decision. But I thought Emily did a really great job as well and I thought they had a good chemistry between them. They were awkward when they were clearly faking at being together (which I think worked), and then they had a solid connection between them outside of the cons. I think it worked. :)

What I really loved were the heist bits themselves. I'm a sucker for a good tension-filled scene. My favorite in this one takes place in a game room. There's a bigger one after that which I won't go into, but the one in the middle was sooooo much fun to watch because there was a huge, lurking, knowledge that anyone could walk in at any point and see what was happening.

My only wish is that there was ~more~ to the movie. A little more character depth. A little higher stake in the game. A little more time between Ivan and Elyse. A little more of something special to set it apart. It was a perfectly good movie, and one that I would definitely break out in the future for a movie night to have fun with a group of friends. While it wasn't something new, it was something well-done and I think people could really enjoy it. 

Thanks for reading!