Original Plot Review - Stanley Tucci gets wasted in a perfect Amazon heist

"A crime family tries to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in this unforgettable thriller. For the past half-decade, Stanley Tucci has been an almost endless source of on-screen pleasure, whether befriending strangers in his delightful cooking shows or judiciously judicious supporting turns in The Conclave and The Devil 2." He is an actor who is well positioned for a star vehicle of his own

For the past half-decade, Stanley Tucci has been an almost endless source of on-screen delight, whether he's befriending strangers on his hilarious cooking shows or his well-judged turn in Conclave and The Devil Wears Prada 2 . He's an actor well-placed for a star vehicle of his own, and this one, Masterplan, looks good on paper: an art heist by an actor at his worst, alongside the grandson of a French New Wave legend (Victor Belmondo, of Jean-Paul's Breathless Star) and a raucous flop in The White Lotus of Two, Songskeim.

There's a lot of fun to be had here, using double, triple and quad spy tools, which have been updated to include retinal scan simulations and something called "virtual reality invasion". As British criminal mastermind Roger, Tucci is game to send up Aristotelian archetypes, even if his character often veers into parody. "I'm English," his character says at one point. "Not bad" is what I say when I orgasm.

Just as you would in A Night of Unparalleled Sunsets, They Don't Want It, the film baits and switches. It turns out the pair have been set up by Roger (Tucci), a veteran thief who himself has the "job of a lifetime": a ten-year plan to part with the Mona Lisa in a complex scheme involving drones, trickery, truffle-related espionage and a long-forgotten tunnel. Also: They're actually brother and sister, the result of Roger's energetic mid-'90s when he seduced their respective mothers.

You'd think the fact that they're now siblings would put the kibosh on Jay and Kiara's flirtation, but the movie seems to have something else in mind. As the family temporarily relocates to Paris to carry out the heist plans, Kiara jokes about the size of her half-brother's "hammer" and offers to settle arguments over a round of poker, which I think is an unusual way for siblings to bond.

Despite the loud jokes, Masterplan is on safer ground when it sticks to espionage. That's thanks to direction from Thomas Vincent, who has regained some of the flair he showed in the Bodyguard episodes he directed, and I'd rate Masterplan a hair better than Role Play, the dull movie he previously made for Amazon. When it's not trying to dazzle you with technology, Masterplan has a few twists on heist movies (including the very clever use of a helium balloon) that keep it from feeling like a complete rehash of Ocean's 11, even if it doesn't match the genius of those movies. And while the characters are too thinly drawn to care too much about, I appreciate the flourishes that hint at the effeminate and gay male gaze, like the moment Tabasco's character dons a platinum blonde wig and the camera's lust for Belmondo, who has a knack for losing his shirt.

All is not as it seems, and while the film really should have ended 30 minutes before it did, it has a few final twists in the third act, as the characters begin to learn who they can really trust and Kiara's hacking skills are put to the test once again. Even as the plot becomes increasingly ridiculous, plenty of punches and explosions ensure that the nearly two-hour running time doesn't drag on. The best you can give Masterplan is faint praise: it can reach your Sunday night out as an accompaniment, even if you struggle to remember it a week later.