The teaming of Neil Jordan and Nick Nolte is an interesting one, considering the director only seems capable making a good film every other time out (his most recent was The End of the Affair), while the actor has been able to successfully carry a film approximately once over the last ten years (Affliction).  In other words, the chances of The Good Thief being a memorable picture would be pretty close to the odds of the damn Yankees finishing the season in the AL East basement (Lord, hear our prayer).

But Thief isn't bad.  In fact, it's practically entertaining, assuming you're interested in seeing a slightly more indie, slightly more international, slightly less fun version of Ocean's 11.  Or you're titillated by watching Nolte playing a disheveled alcoholic and junkie just a few months after his arrest for being a disheveled alcoholic and junkie (Hey, haven't you ever heard of "method" acting before, Officer?).

Nolte plays Bob, an expert crook-turned-degenerate booze/heroin/gambling-addicted mess with jet-black hair and a gravelly voice that sounds like Satan from The Exorcist when he bothers to project beyond a mumble.  As Thief opens, Bob bids farewell to his last bit of money at a horse track on the French Riviera, but a bunch of his pals (Saïd Taghmaoui, Gérard Darmon and Bosnian director Emir Kusturica) discuss the possibility of knocking off a Japanese-run Monte Carlo casino on the eve of the Grand Prix. Along the way, we meet an interesting array of supporting characters, like the teen whore (Nutsa Kukhiani) Bob manages to rescue from her pimp, an evil art dealer (an uncredited Ralph Fiennes), a pair of wacky twins (directors Mark and Michael Polish), and the cop (Tchéky Karyo) who knows his old pal Bob is up to something and seems intent on stopping it. 

Thief takes forever to get going, but once it starts to focus on the safe heist itself (which is, of course, a red herring for a far bigger score), it becomes increasingly enjoyable.  Jordan incorporates clunky freeze-frame shots and awkward jump cuts throughout the film, which is more forgivable than allowing Thief's music to step on many of the actor's best lines, which are already inaudible thanks to Nolte's mumbling.  To make matters worse, Jordan's last handful of films have been visual treats, shot by the likes of Roger Pratt, Darius Khondji and Adrian Biddle, but for Thief he returns to boring Michael Collins cinematographer Chris Menges.

Like The Tailor of Panama, Thief reminded me a lot of a film that might have been made in the mid '70s, and would probably be appreciated by people who dig flicks from that era.  Aside from a decent performance by Nolte (to be honest, I saw Thief a few weeks before his arrest, and I've downgraded my opinion since then because I'm not sure how much of it was acting), there isn't much else here other than the cast of throwaway supporting characters.  Thief is a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1955 Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler).

1:44 -

for language, sexuality, drug content and some violence