This is a fun enough attempt at the old school heist caper genre. There’s little doubt that the folks involved are having fun, but it has its limitations. It’s certainly entertaining enough.

Writing: It’s in the writing department where this movie suffers the most. For starters, the FBI is nothing short of wildly incompetent. Seriously, I sure hope that the real FBI isn’t remotely as inept as they are portrayed in this film. They miss every obvious piece of information. Never mind Alan Alda’s character and his choice of hiding places, which is also ridiculously obvious. Some of the characters serve little-to-no purpose and could be removed from the film without much difficulty. It also has pretty lazy “heist writing.”

Production: Where the script lacks, the production helps compensate. New York is decently leveraged, filming is solid, editing is smooth and sound design is nice. There’s not a lot to complain about in this category.

Cast: Another strong suit for the film is the fun and diverse cast. Eddie Murphy is so-so, playing his usual stuff. Not bad, but he doesn’t add all too much. Ben Stiller is solid as the noble boss and heist ring leader. Casey Affleck is also doing his usual type of material, but is well cast for the role. The under appreciated Tea Leoni is a bit under utilized, but does a nice job with her material. Alan Alda nails the slimeball antagonist quite nicely. But the real highlight of the cast is Matthew Broderick. He doesn’t get a lot to work with, but he steals every scene he’s in. His affable charm is a major asset to the movie.

Music: Here is the single best highlight of the movie. Christophe Beck does a fantastic job at nailing the retro ’70s style jazz heist score. He’s really having fun with all of it, and it works marvelously. The score works wonderfully away from the film as well.