K-SCORE: 72
Director: Rob Minkoff
Writer: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, Tim Blake Nelson, Mekhi Phifer
Spoiler Level: Minor
“you’re not entirely sure whether you should be rooting for a successful robbery or robbery foiling”
Ultimately there’s more potential to the premise than Flypaper is able to deliver. The concept of multiple different groups of bank robbers attempting to rob the same bank at the same time, seemingly by coincidence, is compelling, grounds for a good-length, good-style film, and a potential source of a lot of comedy. Flypaper is pretty solid, but a little forgettable. Patrick Dempsey’s character is funny every time he fails to respect the assumed rules of being a hostage, and the light tone in spite of the dark content serves the story fairly well. It binds together into a complete narrative by the end, but one that’s hard to care too much about because you’re not entirely sure whether you should be rooting for a successful robbery or robbery foiling. It lands in a space in the middle, which isn’t that impactful. A fine film overall though. If only the state of cinema was such that most middle-of-the-spectrum movies functioned as well as this.