This film closes on Thursday, September 18th.

In a late-‘70s Detroit gripped by depression, Robbie (Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def) and partner Louis (John Hawkes) are two low rent grifters with an eye for a big score. After tailing affluent businessman Frank Dawson (Tim Robbins), and discovering his compromising secrets, the pair decide to kidnap Dawson’s browbeaten trophy wife Mickey (Jennifer Aniston) and hold her to ransom.

Yet Mickey proves she’s more than just a passive suburban mum, and with Dawson’s calculating mistress (Isla Fisher), Mickey’s sleazy country club suitor (Will Forte) and an unpredictable Neo Nazi (Mark Boone Junior) all in the mix, the chances of the plan going smoothly are slim. A faithful take on Elmore Leonard’s The Switch, Life of Crime is a whip-smart caper which bears comparison to other great adaptations of the writer’s work, such as Jackie Brown, Out of Sight and Get Shorty. (Notes by Michael Hayden.)

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★★★★ The Guardian ★★★★ The Independent