Performances all round are tops.

It's one of Mamet's most enjoyable and skillful films as director.

Veteran thief Joe Moore, Gene Hackman is looking for one final splendid exit from the game. His team comprises Mamet`s wife and perennial star Rebecca Pidgeon as Fran, Joe's wife, Ricky Jay as Pinky Pincus, Delroy Lindo as Bobby Blane and Sam Rockwell as Jimmy Silk, a new addition. Danny de Vito plays Bergman, the fence who tries to manipulate a bigger piece of the action. But within the parameters of the heist Mamet draws out the characters - he`s quite good at characters. It's not a wham bam heisty movie! Mamet's skill at creating suspense, characters under tension, wit within the complications, manipulating our view of things so that we're never quite sure who's doing what to whom, is quite masterly in this adventure into the realms of trust and loyalty. Performances all round are tops. It's one of Mamet's most enjoyable and skilful films as director. It's obvious that the more practice he gets the better he becomes.