You may think the title tells you a great deal about the film and you would be right in part but essentially it's an extremely intricate and at times confusing confidence game planned and executed with great care by a group of aging master cracksmen led by Joe Moore, played by the imperious and at times effortless Gene Hackman who is easily the best thing in the film. He is supported by the very underrated but dynamic Delroy Lindo as one of his partners and friends.

During a daylight jewellery store raid, Joe's face is captured by a security camera after things don't quite go to plan forcing him into a decision to retire from the heist business. This doesn't go down to well with Joe's fence Mickey Bergman played by the annoying and very talkative Danny Devito who doesn't exactly strike fear in you as a powerful underworld figure. He's unhappy because he's set up another daring heist and in so doing, has incurred a great deal of expenses. He refuses to pay the gang for the jewellery raid until they go through with the new heist. To complicate matters further, Bergman insists his hot-headed nephew Jimmy played by an eye-catching Sam Rockwell participate in the job. All sounds quite intriguing but predictable so far but this is where the film for me begins with its major flaw that is repeated throughout the 105 minutes of its running time. Jewellery store raids are few and far between these days thanks to the high tech security systems that are in place and if Joe's face is now known to the law enforcement agencies, you'd expect him to be highly sought after. Yet somehow he walks about freely throughout the film, his path crossing with many police officers, sometimes actually in the process of creating his meticulous plan for the heist and at other times, causing havoc and mayhem that is always inevitable in this sort of work without drawing any attention to himself.

It appears that so much of the plans for the heist are perfectly laid in place by writer and director David Mamet himself that makes everything seem all too convenient. There are just no real obstacles from the law. Instead the gang face antagonism is from Bergman and Jimmy who don't trust Joe because he has been trying to double cross them so as to not have to carry out the heist. They see Joe's trophy wife Fran played by Mamet's real-life wife Rebecca Pidgeon, who is part of the gang as the weak link. Her performance is quite wooden as the femme fatal and this more than anything else in the plotting creates confusion as you never quite know where her loyalty lies. Maybe this inadvertently works in the film's favour.

So you have the robbery set up as a series of misdirections and you have numerous implausible set ups where the police fail to act like you'd expect them to act after such a major incident and numerous other authorities behave in a manner that is completely lax. The gang seem to complicate matters that aren't really necessary and in fact make the film very unrealistic. Then there's the sting element of the film revolving mainly around Fran. There's one double-cross after another, a trick here and a trick there which go one step too far.

Remembering the brinks Matt Robbery at Heathrow Airport back in the early 80s and the number of people involved in that heist, it beggars belief that a gang of three elderly men and a young woman could pull off everything so quickly. The only thing that keeps the film from falling apart is the incredible acting from Hackman, Lindo, Rockwell and Ricky Jay who plays Pinky. There is enough betrayal and tension to keep you watching and though the dialogue is stylish as only Mamet can come up with, it is overindulgent, over-stylised and excessive. Gene Hackman brings great emotional power to his lines that only he can but its overall effect is just too much to digest.

This cleverly woven film follows a gang of crooks as they try to pull off the perfect heist. The basic plot is familiar, with Gene Hackman"s ageing renegade being forced into doing "one last job" before retiring to a tropical location with his young, high-maintenance wife. Despite this lack of originality, David Mamet"s film contains plenty of wit and vigour. Hackman"s performance is typically emotional and it is his interplay with Danny DeVito"s character which provides the most memorable scenes. The supporting cast is generally strong with the only weak link being Mamet"s wife, Rebecca Pidgeon, as the young love interest. The necessity for a final scam to bankroll a new life and the preparations that the gang make before the heist are meticulously laid out. In fact, the film could almost be treated as an A to Z of "How to Commit the Perfect Theft", with particular reference to how to sneak firearms past security. The film teeters on the brink of being too clever for its own good with a vast array of bluffs, double-crosses and betrayals but just manages to retain the attention of the audience. Heist is a slick look at modern crime and criminals, with an entertaining (and possible educational) content that will enthral viewers as long as they are able to follow its plot intricacies. Not the best film of this genre in recent years but the sheer quality of the direction and the lead actors elevates what could have been a formulaic film to one which is well above average.