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The Good Thief (2003)

tomatometer

77

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 141
Fresh: 109 | Rotten: 32

Bolstered by Nolte's strong performance, The Good Thief brims with seductive style.

81

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 36
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 7

Bolstered by Nolte's strong performance, The Good Thief brims with seductive style.

audience

57

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 6,514

My Rating

Movie Info

Loosely based on Jean-Pierre Melville's French film noir Bob le Flambeur, this heist film from director Neil Jordan (Interview With the Vampire, The Crying Game) stars Nick Nolte as Bob, an aging American thief living in the French city of Nice. Addicted to both heroin and gambling, Bob is in the midst of an extended personal losing streak when he rescues a new girl in town named Anne (Nutsa Kukhianidze) from her pimp. When the opportunity to steal a fortune in rare paintings from a Monte Carlo

Aug 19, 2003

$3.4M

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Cast

All Critics (145) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (112) | Rotten (33) | DVD (22)

Mr. Jordan has lovingly recreated much of what glittered in the hard French thrillers that once starred Delon and Belmondo, and provided a superbly customized vehicle for the salty charms of ashtray-voiced Nick Nolte.

May 1, 2003 Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Great fun despite its deficiency as a presumed thriller.

April 30, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
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It's a heist film with a muddled plot, a character study with no personality.

April 24, 2003 Comment
Arizona Republic
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Rumpled and dissolute, Nolte shambles through this gracefully atmospheric crime film with a cool poignancy that verges on the comic.

April 24, 2003 Comment
Orlando Sentinel
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This is a movie for which you want to give an award to the casting director, Susie Figgis.

April 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Slate | Comment
Slate
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With his haggard good looks and bearish presence, Nolte is the main event in this colorful three-ring circus of a heist picture.

April 22, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
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While Jordan's repeated freeze-frames try a little too hard for nonchalance, the overall cocktail of Gallic insouciance and American film noir grit delivers such relaxant properties you forgive a few foibles.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Nolte's hard lived, leather-lined face looks like a Muncie road map, and fits robber Bob to each crease.

October 15, 2004 Full Review | Comment

The best and most enjoyable English-language crime picture since Jackie Brown.

July 5, 2004 Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | Comment

When it comes to movies about one last, high-stakes score, Nolte in The Good Thief pales next to Gene Hackman's low-keyed brilliance in Heist.

June 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | Comment

Es casi una película hecha por divertimento, lo cual no está nada mal, pero no hay que pedirle mucho más que eso.

June 22, 2004 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

Ao contrário do impecável anti-herói do original, Nick Nolte confere vulnerabilidade ao protagonista e, no processo, leva esta refilmagem a superar a produção de 1955.

April 2, 2004 Comment
Cinema em Cena

A fine film: Jordan creates the seedy ambience and Nolte provides the complex performance that together carry this film through a few minor rough patches.

February 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Cinemania | Comment

Watching an actor at the top of his game is a pleasure even if the film is only good, not great.

January 4, 2004 Full Review | Comment

Outside of Nick Nolte's performance, the rest of the film is a by the numbers heist drama

October 5, 2003 Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews

A heist movie without a thrilling heist is obviously in trouble . . .

September 26, 2003 Full Review Source: Movie Gurus | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Good Thief

A movie that tried really hard for the "cool" factor, complete with a "cool" french soundtrack. It's a decent watch. It may have been much better with a better lead? I wasn't buying the suave gambler/thief played by Nick Nolte..but that's just me, maybe. I'm not really a fan.

January 17, 2012
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

A good Heist movie. More stylish than Ocean's 11 but less watchable. Style over content maybe, I mean, what?s with the editing? The pause before every new frame, I don't get it? Still, Nolte makes it worth watching and Neil Jordan is one of the best directors in the world today. Worth a watch!

October 1, 2009
SirPant

Super Reviewer

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