The Italian Job

A quiet, peaceful weekend, except for the bikers everywhere. Once I got a couple good-nights' sleeps, the extreme noise pollution didn't bother me. Well, it didn't bother me as much. Sometimes I just need a little rest, and then everything's fine. Oh, also, as the weekend wore on, that meant that the biker fest was coming to a rest, so having the end in sight helped.
Last night I watched The Italian Job, a movie I rented that came in the mail. After watching the first five minutes, I thought there was something familiar about it. Had I rented it before? Had I seen it in the movie theater? It was all very vague. I knew I must not have been paying very much attention to it when I watched it, so I knew I must have been at home. As soon as I saw Charlize Theron in her red Mini-Cooper, I was sure I had seen it because I suddenly remembered the big scene at the end, the climax of the movie, when a whole bunch of mini-Coopers saved the day. Despite the annoying Hollywood-ness, the arrogance of Mark Wahlberg, the flimsy plot, and the fact that I'd seen it before, I miraculously held out 'til the end, except that I fell asleep before I got to the end and finished it in the morning. It couldn't have been all that bad. Now I find out there's a sequel coming out next year. Why did this crime/thriller/adventure/car chase/gold thievery movie hold my interest? I will explore the idea fully, knowing that no one cares; that is, unless Mark Wahlberg happens to Google himself and finds this post. Anyway, the cast consisted of a really good group of actors. The camaraderie of the group and the quirkiness of the actors were somewhat compelling. Plus, I wanted to see what Charlize Theron was doing. Edward Norton's always pretty good. I wanted to see what he was doing. The complexity of the plan to steal the gold (twice) was somewhat interesting. Now that I've got my thoughts together, it was the cast. It was all about the cast. The plot was crap.