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The Maiden Heist

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The Maiden Heist (2009)

May. 29,2009
|
6
|
PG-13
| Comedy Crime
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A comedy centered on three museum security guards who devise a plan to steal back the artworks to which they have become attached after they are transferred to another museum.

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Micitype
2009/05/29

Pretty Good

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Onlinewsma
2009/05/30

Absolutely Brilliant!

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Chirphymium
2009/05/31

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

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Scarlet
2009/06/01

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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BobbyT24
2009/06/02

All you need to know to watch this movie are the names of the four leads - Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, William H Macy, and Marcia Gay Harden. Oscar winners playing against type in a comedy/caper where you feel good throughout the entire movie. This story's light fun with three bumbling, lovable security guards/would-be thieves who may/may not pull off the heist of the century - if they can ever stay out of each other's way! In this movie, Walken's a beaten down security guard nearing retirement with an overbearing but doting "battleship" of a wife in Marcia Gay Harden (wow, she is amazing in this role!!). Walken has been working the same job at a museum guarding the same wing for 30 years. In that wing is a painting, "The Lonely Maiden", in whom Walken has fallen in love. Not in a "Somewhere in Time" kinda time-travel piece, but just passionate about this lovely piece of impressionist art. She's the only reason he basically has left to live since his life has hit an endless loop of the same-ol'-same-ol'. Even his wife's incessant saving for a vacation trip to Florida isn't exciting for the poor guy. When he finds out the entire wing of the museum has been sold and is moving to Sweden, he doesn't know what to do. In his grief, he comes across two other long-time security guards (Freeman & Macy) who are head-over-heels in love with OTHER pieces in the gallery. In short order, they conceive an ill-conceived plan of stealing the original pieces and replacing them with fakes prior to leaving the country. What they realize, however, is each guard's unique "gifts" may do more damage than good once they start the heist.This is not "Rififi" with it's professional thieves performing a well-choreographed, ultra-stealth heist to end all heists. This is as "fish out of water" as it gets. It's also what makes this such a special, satirical, light movie. These are kind, gentle souls who are having the loves of their life being ripped out from under them through no fault of their own. They just feel... well, robbed by the very museum they have protected for decades. They don't intend to hurt anyone. They just can't see past their obsession for the art. You cheer for these guys.Let me say, without giving up the ending, that the ending made my wife fall in love with this movie. It's not a "chick flick" movie, but it is for those who aren't into explosions and foul language. It's light-fare with fun, silly characters played by master actors.I rate this a 7 out of 10 because it really isn't a mainstream movie and can't compete on that level. But it deserved better than the straight-to-DVD path it ended on. It is worth watching for a night of light entertainment. A fun film. :-)

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kaiward646
2009/06/03

Okay, so on the cover it's advertised to look like a bad-ass crime movie, it's a crime comedy drama, it's pretty cool though, the men doing the heists aren't criminals, they're just regular old guys who love their job so much they're willing to stop a painting from being re- located.It's pretty good, the acting is good, the characters are well developed, it's entertaining to all ages, it's filmed okay, and it's pacing is pretty good.Defiantly recommended, no alcohol needed, but you know alcohol won't hurt, it's got a decent soundtrack, and some nice moments, especially the moments involving art.

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Joe Scully
2009/06/04

It was a sweet family movie. It had lots of plot holes that young kids might not pick up on (and maybe a bit too much of William H. Macy's ass) but to be honest it was a forgettable movie that wasn't much of a comedy. The way it was advertised was completely deceiving. The DVD cover showed the 3 characters with guns. The movie had nearly no guns. It even showed the villains in the character Roger's imagination ( which lasted about 40 seconds.) I watched this movie expecting a high action cleverly thought out heist movie. The cover made the movie look darker and a thriller. Instead I got a movie full of nearly no jokes, awkward hugs and some guy getting naked for statues. NOT AN ACTION MOVIE

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troy-manatunga
2009/06/05

There I was walking through and airplane (yes an airplane) and caught a glimpse of Morgan Freeman on screen. Taking a moment I gazed into the screen for a moment guessing it was a trailer of RED. It wasn't, instead it is The Maiden Heist. This is how I became familiar with the title and that's how events led me to end up right here right now.What is the most appropriate word to convey my feelings on the title? Let me think…….. Intrigued? Yes that's the right word. I was intrigued when I realized there was a Morgan Freeman movie on the likes of RED (If you have not watched red, its high time you did).It's always a pleasure and privilege to see some well experienced greats in action, it's like being a kid and really enjoying playing a game of cricket or catch with the old folk. The Maiden Heist starring Christopher Walken, William Macy and Morgan Freeman, is a simple light hearted movie with gentle humor and a plain plot. Three museum security guards; Rogers (Walken), George (Macy) and Charles (Freeman) are passionate lovers of the arts. Over the years the men worse; the museum curator decides to ship the displayed artifacts to a museum in Denmark. The veteran security guards are unable to fathom the idea of losing the precious artifacts and conjure up a devious plan to steal them prior to it being flown to Denmark and out of sight forever. Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William Macy are highly talented actors with very powerful and strong personas. There is a lot of controlled underplaying done by them all to keep the plot simple. In fact I am taken quite by surprise to see Morgan Freeman to be playing a quite effeminate security guard instead of being his commanding self. Christopher Walken who toys mostly with eccentric portrayals in fact is obviously trying hard to keep his character afloat as a man who is dominated by his wife. William Macy is not outdone by them, Macy is unbelievably hilarious, especially when he ends up stark naked and is captured on CCTV footage and his love for naked statue. Director Peter Hewitt struck gold with his cast. Although this movie has been the last of his directorial efforts so far, I am sure this cast he worked with is most certainly an all-star cast that he will not forget for a long time. Simply a wonderful movie, very gentle in every aspect and it's a welcome change to see such great names do a lighter version of a heist and not altogether be called a disaster. However research on this title shows that it has not fared well at the box office. I am starting to believe it was entirely an advertising flaw, for starters, I had never heard of it until 5 days ago. I am glad I did. Better late than never!Title: The Maiden Heist Directed by: Peter Hewitt Starring: Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William Macy & Marcia Gay Harden Rated: PG13 for strong language, nudity and some brief fantasy violence. Rated: 07/10 90 Minutes

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