Terrific cast anchors engaging contemporary LA noir
If you loved Mark Ruffalo in HBO’s terrific miniseries Task, you need to go see Crime 101 immediately. I’m not sure when Crime 101 was made, but if Brett Layton, its writer/director, didn’t watch Task first, I’d be surprised. Ruffalo’s engrossing turn here as another rumpled but wise detective with a sad personal life is just one reason to see Crime 101, a highly entertaining and utterly absorbing heist thriller.
In addition to Ruffalo, Layton has assembled a terrific big name cast, all of whom seem to understand the assignment: this picture isn’t going for any sort of Oscar-contention gravitas, but for pure, adrenaline-pumping, lose-yoursef-in-the-story enjoyment. Chris Hemsworth does his best work to date as high-end jewel thief Mike. Mike is the type of strong but silent thief who abides by a strict moral code: no violence, no bloodshed, and certainly no murder. Naturally, Mike earns the respect of Ruffalo’s dogged Detective Lou Lubesnick, just as Ruffalo’s Detective Tom Brandis comes to respect Tom Pelphrey’s Robbie in Task. Layton and co-writer Don Winslow even give Ruffalo and Hemsworth a tense car ride scene nearly identical in tone and style to a pivotal Ruffalo/Pelphrey scene in Task. Ruffalo’s chemistry with Hemsworth here is equally as compelling as it was with Pelphrey, however, making the scene similarities forgivable.
Though Hemsworth and Ruffalo are the stars, the supporting players also do strong work. Halle Berry, as Sharon, a disgruntled elite insurance policy writer who makes a deal to help Mike with a lucrative heist, gets the movie’s best set piece in a savage take down of her firm’s ageist and sexist corporate culture. Barry Keoghan (Saltburn; The Banshees of Inisherin), as a sociopathic jewel thief who is Mike’s polar opposite in temperament and intellect, creates a menacing, erratic villain. A weathered and raspy-voiced Nick Nolte is more than believable as Mike’s longtime fence, and Tate Donovan’s portrayal of Sharon’s smarmy, uber-wealthy client Monroe makes us want to see him taken down a notch.
With the exception of Berry, the women are given less to do. Oscar nominees Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) and GenX icon Jennifer Jason Leigh are wasted in thankless, minor roles as Mike’s current love interest Maya and Lou’s ex-wife Angie, respectively. Barbaro at least has one juicy scene where she berates Mike for his secretiveness, but Leigh appears on screen for no more than a minute in a brief diner scene with Lou that serves to underscore Lou’s sad sack demeanor.
The city of Los Angeles becomes a character, too; the film’s title refers to the jewelry robberies occurring along the southern stretch of highway 101. Cinematographer Erik Wilson’s love affair with overhead nighttime shots of always-busy LA freeways aglow with headlights contribute to the picture’s noirish feel. Themes of corrupt cops, moral ambiguity, and jaded heroes also amplify the film’s throwback film noir quality. Crime 101 may not be a serious awards contender at year’s end, but as a well-crafted, escapist crime thriller, it more than delivers.
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Crime 101 is currently playing, including at the AMC Metreon, the AMC Kabuki, and the Apple Van Ness in San Francisco, at the the Regal Jack London in Oakland, at the AMC Bay Street in Emeryville, and at the Cinemark Century theaters in Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill.
