Masterminds Review

Masterminds is a comical take on the 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery and the story behind it though the film takes a more dumb approach to the situation. While that might sound bad it really isn't as it's just a silly and basic approach to the comedy. The story follows a security guard named David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) as he spends his days transferring money across various locations.

He's complacent with his boring and average life until a new girl named Kelly (Kristen Wiig) starts working with him that he becomes fixated on. This is where Kelly and a group of people she hangs out with led by a semi-mysterious man (Owen Wilson) manipulates him to rob the place he works. During this awkward heist David ends up going to Mexico assuming his lover Kelly will follow whereas the group instead leads luxurious lives.

Things go bad for David while he's down there and Kelly begins to feel awful about what she's done to him. This actually mixed well seeing both sides though I was never quite sure where Kelly fit and her middle ground stance never quite made sense either way. We just saw her spend time by a phone and it was never clear what she did as I assumed she would have been given a share of the robbery.

We're also given a great performance once again by Kate McKinnon (she was in the Ghostbusters reboot) as Janice who was David's wife to be with her playing a creepy yet hilarious character.

This was sadly limited though I quite enjoyed the small role she did play in the film. Jason Sudeikis also shows up as an assassin that's coming after David and I'd say that his parts were some of the most enjoyable aspects of the film. The humor is very simple though it definitely does provide a good set of laughs throughout with the audience of the theater much more enthralled than I was.

Zach also very much just played his usual self in this one so if you like his usual comedic style then you can expect that here. The plot was a bit simple as well following the two groups with comedy that I can best describe as dumb in a sense. Not that it couldn't generate laughs as I just mentioned it does, it just didn't require much thought.

The Conclusion

Masterminds was a decent comedy gathering some laughs though it relied on a somewhat dumb form of comedy to do so. I felt that there were some strong points such as with Sudeikis's assassin being great and McKinnion's creepy wife role. The main cast also had some moments show up as well though I felt Owen Wilson was a bit flat in this and I was never sure what Kristen Wiig's character was doing after the robbery took place.

It was also odd that the film wasn't sure if it was being a serious robbery or just plain comedy often coming across as either at the start. The plot was also silly most of the time and the general story a bit odd. While it might not have been the best film in general it's good for some laughs and a decent watch.

Masterminds Review at Theater with Standard Viewing
Screening Provided by Entertainment One Group

Rating Overall: 5.5