The Score

Apparently Edward Norton says he did this movie for the poster - to see his name up there alongside Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. And who could blame him? But it's a safe bet that Brando and De Niro did it for the money. Here's the thing: De Niro and Brando built their greatness on terrific performances in demanding roles in powerful films. They took their profession to the limit. Evidently they burnt out. And then they sold out - settling for the lucrative complacency of movie stardom. This is a laborious piece of genre mechanics, a heist movie so standard some have persuaded themselves it's a welcome throwback to old-fashioned entertainment. De Niro is the master cracksman seduced into one last job by jackpot booty and the finagling of mentor Brando. Norton is the Young Turk manipulating everybody with his already overfamiliar schizo act. Bassett is the love interest. Everything here is predictable, lazy and old hat. Brando? De Niro? Norton? Boring, boring, boring.