Bart Layton (The Imposter, American Animals) directs his adaptation of Don Winslow’s 2020 novella of the same name about thief Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth), whose series of heists along the 101 freeway draws the attention of Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) and intersects with the plans of disgruntled insurance broker Sharon Combs (Halle Berry). (139 min.)
Crime 101
What’s it rated? R
What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee
What’s it worth, Glen? Full price
Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria,
Movies Lompoc, Regal Edwards Arroyo Grande
Glen: I love a great heist film (think Heat, Hell or Highwater, Reservoir Dogs, Drive, and The Town), and I also like a good heist film. This one’s not great, but it is pretty damn good with a lot of storylines, interesting characters, and great car chases. The film opens with an upside-down shot of LA’s nighttime skyline, and when we first see Mike, he’s buffing dead skin cells and shaking out loose hairs onto a plastic tarp. He’s meticulous and doesn’t want to leave any DNA behind when he steals. He’s got a computer hacker, Devon (Devon Bostick), who gets him the insider info he needs to pull off his heists, but his fence, Money (Nick Nolte looking grizzled as hell), seems to have some dirt on him. Mike’s also got a code—no violence—but in his profession, he can’t control everything around him, no matter how disciplined he is. Things start to go sideways, and Money brings in a loose-cannon biker, Ormon (an unhinged Barry Keoghan), to do a job Mike’s balking at. Soon Detective Lubesnick is closing in on Mike as he works to pull the proverbial “one last job.” Slick yet gritty, it’s a propulsive little thriller.
Anna: Mike is guarded, to say the least. When he meets Maya (Monica Barbaro) after a fender bender, he opens a small crack in his wooden exterior to let her in. Maya isn’t one for BS though, and she soon tires of his aloof mysteriousness. He doesn’t have any family photos around, nothing personal of note in his apartment—and, most telling, he can’t manage to look her in the eyes. We learn bits and pieces about him as Lubesnick orbits him, like he was a foster kid and had a different name. He has a lot of fear around scarcity, and he can’t keep himself from taking one more job, the kind with “walk away” money at stake. Sharon is facing her own battle, one in which the insurance firm she works for refuses to give her the partnership she’s earned. She’s aging out of the business, and the toxic masculinity surrounding her is gross. While always loyal to a fault, she’s finally pushed over the edge and into a scheme that puts her in the line of fire.
Glen: Her storyline is compelling, and Berry is terrific. Ruffalo is also great as the hangdog, Columbo-like detective—tenacious, methodical, smart—but also disheveled and in personal crisis. His wife, Angie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), has left him, and his boss on the force, Capt. Stewart (Matthew Del Negro), doesn’t like him or his methods. The rich prick at the center of the final heist, billionaire Steven Monroe (a super smarmy Tate Donovan), is absolutely hateable. This is a great cast, and after spending a day thinking about it, I feel now that the film’s a much stronger than I thought when I first exited the theater.
Anna: The cast certainly is the wow factor here, and the film does a good job of not wasting its talent. I don’t know that it will become known as one of the best heist films, but it pulled its weight in delivering a compelling story with an all-star cast.
New Times Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in February 19 – February 26, 2026.