Rating: 4/5
The Sting ran so Ocean’s 11 could walk and Community could make their worst episode
This film is a technical marvel — every detail is so precise, and every twist has an earlier event to hint at it. The cinematography is so fluid and keen on the right details, like a magician’s misdirection.
Paul Newman and Robert Redford are a match made in heaven — a boy friendship laced with enough homoeroticism to fuel a cavalcade of AO3 writers.
One could argue that the plot machine has little room for character beyond the roguish exploits of Redford’s Hooker. Also, this movie isn’t passing the Bechdel test or any feminist critique. This movie is about boys. The women are small potatoes at best, and more often sexual exploits.
If you can swallow those flaws, the film is a lot of fun.