In the age of AI slop and relentless streaming fodder, we’re often left saying things like “they just don’t make ’em like they used to!” A longing nostalgia for a simpler time when movies were just that – movies – meant to entertain and stay in their genre lane with no franchise IP being its only reason for existing. An ode to a bygone era almost to a fault, “Crime 101” is tried and true throwback crime thriller that channels the greats of Michael Mann and mid 90s cinema. That said, it sticks too close to its inspirations to stand out.
It has all the right ingredients: star-studded cast, a thief with a heart of gold, a grizzled down-on-his-luck detective, the mark, the muse, and of course, an unhinged villain. At its best, it is a well crafted cat and mouse story with plenty of riveting highs that solidifies itself as your dad’s new favorite film to watch on TNT. At its worse, it’s diet “Heat,” retreading many of those same beats so often it loses its own identity.
That being said, if you’re gonna try and make something built on the foundations of the Mann greats like “Collateral,” “Thief,” and “Heat,” you can do far worse. There is some speciality here and gets quite a bit right for these kinds of films. For starters, writer/director Bart Layton understands if you’re gonna make a crime thriller that takes place on the streets of Los Angeles, you damn well better FILM it on the streets of Los Angeles. As someone who lives in the area, it was nice to see “Crime 101” come alive with a grounded setting and on location atmosphere. Erik Wilson’s (“Paddington in Peru,” “Better Man“) cinematography removes that Netflix sheen and keeps everything in a hue of grays and blues and grit, adding an immersive layer of a seedy underbelly hiding in plain sight across the Hollywood freeways and parking garages.
I was skeptical about its look from the trailers, but Wilson proved me wrong. It’s second strength is its insane cast list, with only Chris Hemsworth feeling used. Mark Ruffalo as a hard boiled but past his prime detective tracking the elusive serial jewel thief is pitch perfect casting. He’s so good at this speed and in these kinds of roles and this feels like the further adventures of his “Collateral” role…ya know, if Tom Cruise didn’t kill in the club. Halle Berry is quite good here too as an insurance agent caught in the middle of heist hijinks but becoming disillusioned by her career and company. She’s probably giving “Crime 101” more than it deserves but we are the better for it. No one does unpredictable villain quite like Barry Keoghan, and Monica Barbaro unexpectly crushes it as the hottest woman to ever grace the screen. Hemsworth as titular thief Mike Davis is the odd man out, fighting hard against his innate charm to portray a rule bound, stoic lone wolf incapable of normal human relationships and void of a personality.
Hemsworth may look the part, but “Crime 101” constantly feels like he’s being forced to stifle his natural onscreen magnetism and while I applaud him for trying something new, it’s impossible not to see him as anything other than a uncontainable charming norse god. It’s an unnecessary box our protagonist is shoved into, and starts to feel as if the film is actively fighting against its characters. As it unfolds, this becomes more and more challenging to accept and when paired with its increasingly muddled plot, the ode to cinema crime thriller start to get away from itself. It sprawls wide and runs too long, spending a good hour and 20 minutes just putting chess pieces on the board.
By the time those pieces collide and the game should be afoot, “Crime 101” stumbles, and doesn’t quite land the plane in a satisfying way.
But every time I felt the film start to lose me, it would do something to pull me back in. When it’s cooking, it combines the right ingredients in just the right way to be a thrilling yet subdued genre picture. Beneath its surface is a great thematic exploration of hustle culture. Everyone is being used or using others, and it doesn’t matter what side of the criminal world you’re on – cop or robber or crosshairs – everyone is one bad day away from throwing it all out the window and robbing the super rich. Parasitic relationships come into play, but they require a little too much reading into the tea leaves to be obvious or even all that important in the grand scheme of things.
The highs of are enough to make anyone with even in an inkling of nostalgia or love of Dudes Rock movies dial in and sit forward. But when it lulls, it drags, sucking the energy out of the heist game and forgetting that the action IS the juice. It’s odes starts to feel a bit more like a copycat and can’t quite keep itself afloat without resting on the laurels of its better apex mountain entries. Admittedly though, it’s hard to be mad at something like “Crime 101” considering how often I’ve asked for films like this to be made. It may not be able to escape its own inspirations and set itself apart, but it gets enough right to stand tall among its sometimes unwatchable streaming companions and be the best attempt at trying to bring the 90s back.
As someone who genuinely misses that time in movie history, “Crime 101” is about as good as we can get for a “remember the greats” knock off. I didn’t love it, but the more I sit with it the more I’ve come around to liking it quite a bit.
I’m in my fur baby dad era too, so I’m definitely the dad that will rewatch “Crime 101” on TNT as I fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon in my robe and favorite lounge chair.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
“Crime 101” is in theaters February 13th. You can watch the trailer below.
