Last week I talked a little about a movie with Dustin Hoffman as an ex-con trying to to straight, so I thought I'd follow that up with a movie with Dustin Hoffman as a guy who's broken away from his criminal past and gone straight for more than 20 years. He thought for sure he was out, but he gets pulled back in.It happens because of his son, played by Matthew Broderick. The patriarch in the family, Sean Connery, is an unregenerate rogue and crook, so for 23 years Hoffman has kept his son away from his grandfather. But genetics is a terrible thing. Broderick is fascinated by his grandfather. He drops out of college and tells Connery about a simple caper that will pay off hugely. Connery's all for it, and he finally manages to persuade Hoffman to take part. Would it surprise you to learn that things to go as planned?
I'm not going into specifics here, but some get off more lightly than others as a result of the flubbed caper. The last act of the movie is pretty much a mess, and there are a couple of plot holes that are worrisome. Still, there's a great cast and a great director, Sidney Lumet. So it's not a total loss. Judy and I went to see it in the theater, not knowing what to expect but thinking that with the cast it had, the movie would be great. It's not great. It's sort of middling, or that's my take on it. Considering all the talent involved, it should've been better. Maybe you like it more than I do.
