An adaptation more faithful to the words than spirit of Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch, Life Of Crime is a clever caper that trips up in the one-dimensional eccentricity of its characters. Daniel Schnechter’s feature stars John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) as lowly criminals planning to kidnap a millionaire’s brow-beaten wife Mickey (Jennifer Aniston) for ransom. Unfortunately for her, husband Frank (Tim Robbins) is having an affair – and isn’t keen to get her back.
The film’s look – all tatty yellows and browns – is as murky as its premise. There is certainly lots of cruelty on view. Aniston disguises her flinches when Robbins bullies and belittles her; Hawkes and Bey tolerate the Nazi fetishes of their nasty colleague (Mark Boone Jr.)
While the plot and design have a ‘slyness’, the execution remains sadly flat. Granted, Isla Fischer imbues her conniving mistress with a fun shamelessness. However, Aniston struggles to breath life into her semi-comic, semi-tragic role. She tries but just can’t make poor Mickey come alive. She is a blank slate; her growing attachment to the unexpectedly tender Hawkes unengaging. At no point does she feel like a living, breathing human being, with an actual interior life.
Without intriguing characters, the formulaic storyline is sadly exposed. Lots of talent, an ocean of plot – but, much like the flawed kidnapping plan, it’s all going nowhere fast. Leonard’s whipsmart energy is desperately missed.