Ordinary Decent Criminal – You have two ways of looking at this film

I’ve only just got round to watching ‘Ordinary Decent Criminal.’ I know I’m a little late to the party, but, for some reason, I’ve only just heard about it.  However, whereas most older films would probably be judged at how well they’ve held up over time, this one seems to be entirely judged on whether you (now) like Kevin Spacey or not.

Yes, he’s the lead and, as usual, he turns in a fine performance (this time doing a near flawless Irish accent).  But times have not been kind to this once great actor’s reputation and it seems that quite a few people have ‘review-bombed’ this (and maybe others?) of his simply based on his personal life alone.  Whatever he may or may not have done in his private life, he’s still a great actor and, if you can get past that, you should enjoy this film.

Spacey plays ‘Michael Lynch’ – a career criminal who, despite being only too happy to steal from the rich, is actually a nice, family man who dotes on his wife and kids.  Naturally, for someone who’s spent their life on the wrong side of the law, the police are well on to him and will go to any lengths to (finally) bring him to justice.  Therefore, him and his gang (including a young and not that well-used Colin Farrell) hatch a masterplan to steal some priceless paintings which will set them up for life.

It’s a decent enough crime caper with some touching moments and a few laughs along the way – most derived from Spacey’s performance as a loveable rogue.  He, as so often, is the complete star of the show and carries the film single-handedly.  This would probably be a straight-to-DVD affair if it wasn’t for his name and presence attached.

About my only real gripe with the film came near the end when the ‘plan’ was all coming together.  A few times it felt like coincidence played a bigger part in its success/failure than actually planning and a lot of things would have had to have gone conveniently right for it to work.

However, if you can suspend your disbelief enough to ignore that, plus try to remind yourself that you’re judging the film on the characters and story, rather than who’s portraying them, then this is a nice enough little film to pass the time.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that