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Sometimes bad things happen to a good movie that have absolutely nothing to do with the movie or the people who made it — and one of those things happened to Utah-based filmmaker Jared Hess' satisfyingly funny comedy "Masterminds."
The movie, the first Hess has made off someone else's script, got caught up in the bankruptcy of its distributor, Relativity Media. As a result, "Masterminds" saw its 2015 release date get pushed back more than a year — and when such a thing happens, whispers start that somehow it's the movie's fault.
This comedy of errors is based on the true story of David Ghantt, a driver for the armored car company Loomis Fargo, who in 1997 was part of what was then the biggest cash heist in U.S. history. Ghantt, played here by Zach Galifianakis, is a doofus — a guy who drives a VW pickup truck with a plywood door and is engaged to the creepily quiet Jandine (Kate McÂKinnon).
In short, he's the sort of character you get when the director of "Napoleon Dynamite" teams up with the weirdest guy in "The Hangover."
Ghantt, though engaged, becomes smitten with his sexy co-worker Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig). When Campbell gets fired from Loomis Fargo, she starts hanging out with small-time hood Steven Chambers (Owen Wilson). Chambers has the idea of robbing an armored car and enlists Kelly to seduce Ghantt into being the inside man.
The script — by former "Saturday Night Live" writer Emily Spivey and the team of Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer (who worked on the "Napoleon Dynamite" animated series) — devotes the first half to the heist, which Ghantt nearly botches before it begins. The second half centers on the aftermath, with Ghantt lying low in Mexico, dodging both a psycho hitman (Jason Sudeikis) hired by Chambers and FBI agents (one played by Leslie Jones) trying to crack the case.
Hess' sense of humor runs toward the goofy, and here his talented comic cast runs with that and makes the most of it. Galifianakis, Wilson and Sudeikis are all funny, but it's the women — particularly Wiig and her "Ghostbusters" stars, McKinnon and Jones — who get the most sustained laughs. "Masterminds" may be as dumb as its characters sometimes, but it's a good, entertaining kind of dumb.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'Masterminds'
A true-life heist is the basis for this goofball comedy, with director Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite") overseeing a talented cast.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Opens Friday, Sept. 30.
Rating • PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, some language and violence.
Running time • 94 minutes.