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No consensus yet.
All Critics (16) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (6)
There is wonderful source material here; it's easy to root for Payne's transgressions. But her story is dying for a multimillion-dollar Hollywood treatment.
As much a social and psychological study as a fascinating look at a woman who lived by her own rules.
It's obvious that Pond and Marcolina can't resist the woman, any more than she can resist yet another heist.
Payne's obvious pathology isn't probed as deeply as it should be.
A peppy and beguiling portrait of a convict whose defiant streak of independence has a way of outshining her wrongdoing.
Who knew that being lied to for 75 minutes could be so agreeable - and revealing?
The filmmakers, with their clumsy reenactments, don't seem quite up to dissecting the complexities that Doris's life presents, but we still think about them, even after the movie is over.
This documentary is enjoyable because Payne is a firecracker. Even now her eyes sparkle as she recounts barely escaping arrest in Monte Carlo.
Think of the film 'Catch Me If You Can' meets 'Ocean's Eleven' with a twist. The jewelry thief is an unsuspecting, sweet, and gorgeous Black woman by the name of Doris Payne.
Beginning as a rather conventional documentary ... [the film] soon finds a matter-of-fact style that nicely reflects its subject.
An unappealing, un-role model who stole millions from the rich and simply frittered it away on herself in decadent fashion.
The movie only reduces these things to their most simplistic terms, often doing so to push Payne as an inspirational or admirable figure. And that does an incredibly complicated human being a shameful disservice.
While it is true that the documentary "The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne" is not without its share of flaws, where else are you going to have an opportunity to see a real life jewel thief talk about their life of crime? In this case, it is Doris Payne, now 84, who has been at it for decades; at first so she could help her abused mother escape a life of desperate poverty in West Virginia. As the documentary is about how we perceive others, it is ironic that Doris, who is of black and Cherokee parents, sidesteps the racism of the era in order to allow her access to high society, so she can perform her sleight of hand to subtly steal diamonds. The question remains is she still doing the same, especially considering her recent arrest after being accused of theft from a Macy's in San Diego. But then it does not help that the filmmakers get drawn in a little too closely, too intent on any possible answers to maintain proper distance.
Super Reviewer
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