The Maiden Heist

You would think that a comedy with four Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning actors would have a high enough profile to make it into theaters, and yet The Maiden Heist, starring Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden went straight to DVD. To be sure, there were specific business problems challenging its distributor, the Yari Film Group, but The Maiden Heist also faced the problems of the modern movie business in general, where studios seem averse to releasing any entertaining film that doesn't feature an immediately marketable hook like talking robots, talking animals or talking robot animals. If The Maiden Heist's cast were in a grim, grueling drama, that movie would probably make it into theaters for Oscar time; since they're in a light, bright and breezy caper comedy, and have an average age well above the industry's target demographic, someone somewhere calculated the cost of a release to theaters against the potential profits and made the call to put it on the silver disc of DVD as opposed to the silver screen of the theater.

And I'm not going to say that The Maiden Heist would have made buckets of cash if it played theaters, or rail against the way the movie business seems to be running these days, but I will say that The Maiden Heist works remarkably well on DVD, where it plays slick and slight and funny. Walken plays a security guard at a Boston museum, who loses himself for hours in one of the gallery's classic 19th-century paintings, a portrait of a lady by the sea. One day, though, he's told that to make room for more modern pieces, the painting of the maiden is bound for Copenhagen. This, to Walken is unacceptable; it turns out it's also unacceptable to Morgan Freeman's guard, an amateur artist who's fascinated by a painting full of cats, and William H. Macy, who's grown a little too attached to a bronze nude statue that's bound for Denmark as well. ...

Director Peter Hewitt -- who's given us such unimpressive films as Zoom: Academy for Superheroes and Garfield -- makes one very smart decision with The Maiden Heist, which is a simple and easy call: He gets out of the way of his stars. Walken has a wiggy-but-warm mix of intensity and sympathy here that mixes his weirder performances with his cheerier ones. Freeman uses his velvet purr of a voice to maximum effect; Macy's wiry, nervy statuary enthusiast ex-Marine has a nice frantic charm. And as the threesome decide that, well, they're just going to steal the art and replace it with duplicates so they can appreciate the pieces they love at a closer distance than that between Boston and Copenhagen. And, really, who better to rob the museum than the men charged with preventing that? Along the way, Walken also realizes that his relationship with his wife, Harden, is different -- and better -- than he thinks it is, one passion renewing another.

The DVD's extras are intensive, including commentary from the director, writer and senior producer, as well as making-of material plus deleted scenes and a blooper reel; the DVD also conveys the air and light of the film's shooting style quite nicely. The Maiden Heist isn't a top-ten heist comedy, and it's barely drop compared to the con capers of the Ocean's films, but it does have four professionals doing what they do remarkably well in a fun, smoothly-made bit of entertainment. Yes, The Maiden Heist had trouble making it to movie theaters, but that says more about a distributor and the new landscape of distribution than it does about the movie itself; the light laughs and a smattering of suspense in The Maiden Heist may be delivered on DVD, but they still deliver.

Comments

[Rebecca]

Heist/Caper movies are almost always among my favorites. I'll have to check this out! Thanks for doing us all a service and letting us know about this work from marvelous actors of a certain age.

[nj_jcarter]

The question is though... will this movie make it to a Redbox near me? Also, when can we expect it? Is it out already? Any information would be appreciated.

[Locke Peterseim]

nj_jcarter, yes this film is in the redboxes and you can find out what redbox near you has it by using the movie locator at redbox.com. Just type in your zipcode and it will tell you where to find the nearest copy.

In this case that page is:
http://www.redbox.com/Titles/AvailableTitles.aspx#Detail&page=1&sort=1&titleId=2864

Also, at redblog DVD reviews are usually only published after a title has been released into the redboxes. And all redblog DVD reviews have links in the title of the film that lead you directly to that DVD's information page at redbox.com.

[Mike]

What can those of us who have money to buy tickets, like to watch something besides massive killings, cute animals, or unbelievable stupidity do besides using rebox. Once in a while, I like to get out of my living room.

[Locke Peterseim]

Mike, if you're asking what films are out in theaters that don't involve "massive killings, cute animals, or unbelievable stupidity," be sure to check out the "In Theaters" section of reviews here at redblog! (http://blog.redbox.com/redblog/in_theaters/)

For example, right now the following films are all in theaters (some in limited release) and are ones I really liked and highly recommend:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (very clever kid's film)
Where the Wild Things Are
A Serious Man (the Coen Brothers' latest, I haven't reviewed it yet)
An Education (still in limited release, but definitely worth finding!)
Paranormal Activity (not a perfect film, but creepy with almost no violence on screen)

And a few others I personally have not seen yet, but have heard good things:

This is It (the Michael Jackson performance documentary)
More Than a Game (the Lebron James high school documentary)
The September Issue (the documentary on the making of the Vogue fall fashion issue)
New York, I Love You (collection of short films set in the city)
Capitalism: A Love Story
Damned United (fact-based drama about the Manchester United football/soccer team in the '70s)

And there are a couple that I personally did not like, but others might:

Amelia
Vampire's Assistant (some mild violence)

And one that I have not seen and have not heard much good about:

Motherhood

[barry mckeown]

it sucks...

[Ray Watson]

While I made it to the end of the movie I did not think the movie and the talent were a good match. If you have nothing better to do it is better than a poke in the eye.

[tony russo]

just picked it up can't wait to watch it
good cast.
still waiting for bluerays boxes

[Ray Watson]

Tony Russo,
Why would you comment to us that you picked up the movie. Who cares if you picked up the movie. Hold your horses and waite until you have seen the movie. Then make a brief comment on the movie. For God's Sake.