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SlackerInc's Replies
Right? That set decorator did an incredible job.
Haha, good point.
Though maybe lesbians aren't grossed out by them like I thought?
I tried asking about this, very respectfully, on Reddit and got banned by the sub dedicated to the movie. Yet even on an NPR podcast, the very progressive women discussing the movie said that they found this confusing (though they acknowledged that they themselves were not "queer" so maybe there was something they were missing).
Interesting that they shot it so differently. Sounds like the director wanted to leave it more ambiguous what happened to them. He also presumably directed them to look confused and kind of freaked out as they pulled into the parking ramp.
If they blended in right. A big "if", since they were slow to get out of the silver Impala the cops were looking for, we saw cop cars converge on that parking spot seconds later, and they were carrying duffel bags (if they were trying to get away with the loot).
One more thing it occurred to me to add has to do with his reputation in the criminal underworld. Obviously it doesn't look great for the people he drives to get busted. But what story are other criminals going to hear? "The two dudes in the back seat got picked up by the cops, but the driver was in the wind." The proof is in the pudding: he got away clean, so they could have too--but once it was no longer about driving but about walking, they failed and he did not. Not his problem, not his fault.
The last point at which we see the two thieves is a shot of the back seat just as they've pulled into the parking ramp. They don't look steely-eyed, ready to spring into action. They look kind of freaked out and a bit confused about what's going on. Then when the driver parks, we can't see the back seat but it sure doesn't look like those back doors open at the same time he gets out. Then just a few seconds after he has walked away from the car, cop cars converge on the area where he parked. To me, it doesn't look promising for them but it's left ambiguous, which is a nice touch.
I think you are stubbornly overlooking nuances in the script and direction here. The driver is extremely competent, yes: but he also lays out very clear boundaries of what is and is not his responsibility. "Anything happens in that five minute window, I'm yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute on either side of that, you're on your own. You understand?"
Now, this does not technically, literally apply to the point when they get to the arena. But the dynamic has been laid down. He will do his job to the utmost, and get them to a place where they have every chance of escaping if they act just as professionally and competently as he does. But they are "on their own" after he parks the car. It's not his problem. It's not his job to hold their hands at that point--he never looked back. And I just don't think they looked like they were up to the task. They were not as highly skilled as he is. That doesn't make HIM a Will Ferrell buffoon! That's on them.
And don't forget, one of the two masked burglars (or perhaps robbers: the police radio said "shots were fired") was very slow to exit the building they robbed. His partner was sitting there like "C'mon, c'mon, where are you man?!?" If that second guy had gotten out as quickly as the first one did, maybe they make a clean getaway right from the beginning and there's no real drama. The driver can just drop them off wherever they had originally agreed to (I've got to think the arena was an emergency backup plan for if things went pear-shaped).
I mean, they're definitely going to stand out. The cops are looking for burglars, and duffel bags are something burglars would carry but no one else at a ball game is going to be carrying them. That doesn't mean they will definitely get caught if they don't just ditch the bags, because as you said there's an ocean of people. But the driver is much better situated, with his cap and no bag. Not to mention that although we didn't see what ultimately happened to the burglars, we did see that they were acting more like they were caught flatfooted, and did not jump out of the car (which the cops definitely had identified) nearly as fast and smoothly as the driver did. He acted like the pro he is, and nothing we saw from them made them seem like anything but amateurs over their heads.
Another good analysis.
I'm not sure if this is what you are getting at, but I felt on a rewatch that the ending suggests Stephane and Camille may yet still get together at some point. I had incorrectly remembered it as a sort of final goodbye, but he says he will "bien sur" come and see her when she plays in Paris, and then they have a somewhat long kiss on the lips, not just a friendly "bise".
This was a great read. Food for thought.
I think you are mostly right, but they were playing squash.
Yes, I think this is about right.
Good analysis.
It's not Maxime that was the only person he ever loved, but his former violin teacher whose euthanasia Stephane performed.
You build an interesting case there, but as you seem to understand, it's not really what the filmmaker intended to convey.
Just watched it on Blu-ray tonight! So great.
I don't think it's unreasonable to time the heist to make this a viable getaway plan if things go south. Remember, he has told them they have this precise window of time that he'll wait, so presumably he can dictate the beginning of the window as well. He then of course doesn't know the precise moment the game will end, which is why he's listening to the game on the radio the whole time. As he zooms around evading the cops, he's presumably looping around the area near the arena, and then as it ends he knows that's the moment to go the last couple blocks and zip into the parking ramp.
I see what you're saying, but they weren't as smooth and they would have stood out carrying big bags like that. Unless maybe they ditched them? It seems to me that it could also be that they ran into hot pursuit, a worst case scenario, and the driver still gave them all a chance to escape--which they then would have to grab ahold of themselves by moving quickly like he did and probably not carrying the bags.
Didn't think so, thanks.
So do you think they got away, or not so much?