Premise: Two con men come up with a plan to get back at a local crime boss.
No one who loves Ocean's Eleven (2001) as much as I do should go this long without seeing The Sting. It's got the exact same formula: movie stars, elaborate heist, wit in between. To be fair though, I did have a reason to be hesitant. I watched the original Ocean's 11 years ago and didn't care for it at all. So, if I didn't like that directly comparable movie from the same era, maybe The Sting wasn't a sure bet. Wrong. This movie is great. It's exactly what I wanted. It's neatly organized into the different stages of the con. The characters are immediately relatable or understandable. The stakes are clear. The twists of the con are predictable but still surprising. This is one of the most satisfying of the Best Picture winners I'm catching up on.
Older heist movies are fun because everything is so analog. It's hard to make them in an accessible way for audiences now, because 95% of the work is done by a computer guru with magical hacking abilities. The Sting is a 70s movie about a Depression era con. For them, it's all about timing and training. The only technology is the wiretap. The rest is gumption.
Side Rant: OK. I caught this as a free movie on Peacock. I get that they don't have time to check every movie for the best place to insert the commercial breaks, but it's frustrating that they didn't for The Sting. The movie is literally structured with breaks throughout the movie when it switches to a title card for the next chapter. They are spaced evenly throughout the movie and designed to be included in places where people are paying attention. Why not move the commercials to there? Again, I know the answer. I just need to vent.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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