Final act is fine

“Rough Cut” is a movie so far up the ass of old Cary Grant- Alfred Hitchcock movies that it’s hard to tell where impression ends and this movie begins. It tries to be a high gloss, suave heist thriller and, no doubt, having “Dirty Harry” and “Charley Varrick” action director Don Siegel on hand should have made it a fast paced treat but weirdly much of this film feels like it’s trying to be a romantic, hop around the world comedy and that’s something that no one, either in front of or behind the camera, seems to have been prepared for.


Which is a shame because it seems to at least start well. It has Burt Reynolds, looking movie star handsome in his tuxedo in a Cary Grant sort of a way, participating in a fun little meet cute with Leslie Ann-Down, looking elegant herself, at a party. Hiding herself a way in a room, he moves hand over hand across a trellis and balances himself across a rooftop railing in order to spy on her from his window to hers.


It’s all part of a quick little cat and mouse game they play as she winds up hiding away in his apartment later, anxious to meet him. Whether that has to do with sexual attraction, or the fact that she’s a kleptomaniac being blackmailed by a Scotland Yard chief inspector (David Niven) into capturing Reynolds is anyone’s guess. See, Reynolds is also a prolific jewel thief and Niven, on his way toward retirement, wants one last big catch beforehand. The plan here is for Niven to use her into getting Reynolds to bite on one last big, elaborate score involving 30 million dollars in diamonds.


Of course one of the goals for a movie like this is for romantic feelings to complicate things yet there’s never much indication that Reynolds or Down are wrapped up in anything other than their own performances. Both are way too cool and collected. Reynold’s tries for Grant’s flippant sarcasm while Down returns his volleys for sexy, equally too cool comebacks and both seem entirely too unaffected and full of their own bravado to even have any real feeling.


Rather than being fast and witty, the whole thing feels slow and egocentric. Especially since the dialogue never matches how clever and cool the actors think they are. I guess we’re supposed to laugh at “Not for me. I’m driving” when Down offers Reynolds a pastry or find it smart when Niven characterizes Down as “You ought to be careful with those eyes. They could be assault with a deadly weapon”, but these are mostly just cheesy examples in a movie of far more forgettable lines.


There are references in this movie to “Notorious” and “To Catch a Thief”, which is not exactly a bad thing but rather a measuring stick that this movie can’t measure up to. The dialogue is dull and the performances are amusing only as impressions rather than as actual people. It’s easy to lose interest and so it’s no surprise that the final 20 minutes or so requires a refocus. There are some very good twists and sleight of hand trickery, car chases and plane shipments being moved around in complicated ways. The film is almost watchable in the final stretch. Would that for the preceding hour and a half didn’t lull us into a coma where we could really care less.