Criminal Intent

DAVID MAMET'SHEIST

Two thousand one has been a weirdly decent year for gritty little crime dramas, the kinds of down-anddirty B movies Hollywood could crank out with its eyes closed a generation or two ago. Joining the entertaining, if overrated, ranks of Memento, Sexy Beast, and The Deep End is David Mamet's new film, Heist, which, to its credit, is about exactly what its title says. Indeed, it has the advantage over the previously mentioned films in that it has no pretensions to anything other than nasty fun. Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Sam Rockwell serve various plot functions. Gene Hackman, as usual, makes even the lame parts watchable. (Rating: ★★★)

B.H.