How to Rob a Bank review: This should have been more fun
I really loved David Leitch‘s previous film, The Fall Guy, so I had high hopes for How to Rob a Bank, but it’s nowhere near as fun or funny as I’d hoped.
The film stars Nicholas Hoult as Ryan/The Wolf, the leader of a gang of bank robbers who record their crimes and post the footage as part of wacky YouTube tutorial videos. These modern Robin Hoods – who steal from banks and (mostly) give to charities – gain a cult following online that spills into real life, kickstarting a rebellion, with copycat robberies breaking out across America. FBI agent John West (John C. Reilly) teams up with a software creator Reagan (Zoe Kravitz) to help stop the robbers and put an end to the uprising.
I thought this was going to be a heist comedy but it’s actually more dramatic and emotional than expected, particularly in the second half. I found the first half quite funny thanks to the gang’s highly stylised instructional videos – complete with choppy editing and funky visuals – but the tone shifts and the comedy disappears when you learn why the robbers are doing this. The reasons are legitimate and sad – they have been royally shafted by the system. Does the film want to be a witty comedy or serious social commentary? The film doesn’t seem so sure.
But How to Rob a Bank doesn’t just have tonal problems – it feels oddly flat at times, the storytelling is muddled, the pacing slows down too much after a propulsive opening, and it rarely sparks the excitement you’re supposed to feel when watching a bank robbery or chase. Plus, we don’t really get to know the robbers until the second half and they are outshone by the more interesting – and amusing – buddy cop dynamic between Reilly and Kravitz.
Surprisingly, the standout among the ensemble is Pete Davidson, who is not playing himself for the first time ever. He is given a dramatic arc as Vince, and actually brings a lot of emotion, so he was the only robber I actually felt something for. I enjoyed Kravitz’s stoner computer genius – she’s constantly eating! – even if she is thinly written and we’ve seen Kravitz play similar before. I loved Anna Sawai in Shogun and I wish she had more to say and do in her first big movie role. She deserved more!
How to Rob a Bank is not just a dumb action movie – it’s got a point to make about income inequality and how broken our society is. But you can make that point and make an entertaining movie at the same time, whereas this film struggles to do both.
In cinemas from Friday 13th November