THE SKINNY
A silly story about an accomplished art thief and the insurance investigator who allegedly sets out to capture him. An acceptable rental if your first two choices are out.

THE FULL REVIEW
I viewed this film in the middle of TNT’s Fifteen days of 007, during which TNT airs, among others, all of Sean Connery’s old Bond films. After watching those old classics any good film might suffer by comparison. However given the incredibly mediocre film that is Entrapment, the inadequacy of this film was that much more glaring.

In Entrapment, Sean Connery (The Rock, The Hunt for Red October, Goldfinger) plays Robert “Mac” MacDougal, the world’s most renowned art thief who is suspected of stealing a Rembrandt. The painting’s insurance company sends Virginia Baker, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Haunting, The Mask of Zorro, The Phantom), to investigate MacDougal and recover the painting. Baker somehow convinces MacDougal to join her on a crime spree that extends across a number of different nations. The catch is that the audience cannot be sure if she is really an investigator pretending to be a criminal in an attempt to entrap MacDougal, or whether she is legitimately a thief.

The movie’s first of many problems is its miscasting of Connery. Due to his advanced age and gray beard, Connery looks more apt to be spending time on a shuffleboard court then he does carrying out athletically challenging heists. During the film’s climactic scene in Malaysia, when MacDougal and Baker attempt to accomplish some kind of incomprehensible Millennium related computer crime, the viewer is more concerned with MacDougal pulling a groin than his being caught by the hundreds of guards that he and Baker somehow elude. Another problem with Entrapment is the predictable yet ridiculous relationship that instantaneously appears between MacDougal and Baker without any semblance of a foundation. Zeta-Jones could easily pass for Connery’s granddaughter and their “passionate” scenes are beyond unconvincing and make the viewer cringe. Finally, the plot is thin and unbelievable, with an especially weak ending.

Connery’s performance was uninspiring and disappointing. Likewise, Zeta-Jones was unremarkable in the film. The producers of the film clearly sought to capitalize on her outstanding body, (or maybe they were trying to distract the viewer from the weak storyline), as a scene where Connery directs her during a practice run for one of their thefts consists of nothing more than a ten minute examination of Zeta-Jones’ ass. To be fair, her ass acquits itself quite nicely in the scene. Ving Rhames (Rosewood, Mission: Impossible, Pulp Fiction) appears as a mysterious character who advises and stays in contact with MacDougal throughout the film, but his role is extremely limited and forgettable.

At times the movie can be somewhat fun with a couple of amusing stunts and Zeta-Jones is easy to look at. If you have nothing else going on you could do worse than to rent this film. However, Connery fans have come to and should expect more from such a great actor. The star of Dr. No should have said no to this role and script.

By: Scott Shuster