Some interesting film and editing techniques for a TV movie. Probably would have had more impact if originally broadcast in '96 as intended. The wackiness gets a little tiring at times, but the fresh approach makes up for it. Quite a good job by Shields. It's hard at first not to be aware that it's "Brooke Shields," but her growth as an actress and her seemingly natural flare for comedy allows you to eventually just enjoy her character. She seemed to be having a blast. I laughed out loud a couple of times. Worth at least one viewing.
11 Reviews
Enjoyable movie,great acting
32Ford29 December 2004
While this clearly isn't the greatest movie ever made,it sure is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Brooke Shields doesn't get the credit she deserves for her talent,and even Rip Torn does a good job here. One big reason for most people to rent or buy it in the blow-out bin (I paid $1.25) at a discount store is that there is no violence in the movie,no sex scenes,and no foul language. I don't have any kids,but I suspect the people who do and who want to pick a movie the whole family can watch and enjoy will appreciate the harmless fun in this movie. Their choices have to be pretty slim,so this one would be a good one to recommend to your friends who do have young children.
Not half as bad as I thought it would be....and Shields is pretty good.
mistertcj20 September 2016
Having recently been given a big box of DVD's, I thought to myself, as with most things, that I would save the best until last and start off with the bad. This was the first out of the box and I have to admit to being very pleasantly surprised. Now, a mark of 5 out of 10 may not prove my point.....and here is why. As soon as I started watching I said to myself 'Channel 5 (UK) afternoon TV movie', without knowing at the time that was exactly what it was. Supposedly based on a true story, the plot is very thin and very much a no brainer. However, there are 4 very well know stars in the film which was very much a coup for a TV movie. And it's 3 of these 4 that pull this movie through. Alessandro Nivola has a minor 'stooge' role, but Brooke Shields' very purposefully overacted ditsy performance is pretty good........if just a bit annoying at times. In fact, it seems that all of the main 3 women's roles were overacted. I have no idea why. Dylan Walsh is good as Shields hapless boyfriend and Rip Torn was..........well, Rip Torn really. I don't have to 'plot spoil' here as the films title totally says it all.
All in all, an above average TV movie with a good cast and good performances.
All in all, an above average TV movie with a good cast and good performances.
Rich Production
dsteve1513 May 2001
This is one of the few films where the characters have accents that don't sound phony. And that is not all that is in good order with this charmer. A variety of portrayals characterizing southern personality types is funny in itself. The plot is very simple and places more responsibility on acting and integration of other film making elements to create a valid viewing experience. From the sound and music to clothing and sets, it all fits. While there is nothing unpredictable about the Almost Perfect Bank Robbery, nothing is offensive either. A good example of what can be done without a large cast and production crew to create a first class picture. I loved it and wish it was a little longer so I could enjoy it more.
It gets 5 stars because I'm grading on a pretty steep curve
MBunge26 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery is one of those just below middlin' productions that are the hallmark of cable TV. You know the ones I mean. They've all got a somewhat known actor in one of the main roles, are often based at least loosely on a true event and all too frequently suck you in by never being bad enough to make changing channels seem worthwhile. In this one, Brooke Shields gives just a good enough performance to keep hanging on through the sub-mediocre rest of the movie. Every once in a great while, this kind of film can reward you by doing something interesting in the second half or pulling off a snappy ending. That doesn't happen here.
Cyndee Lafrance and Frank Syler (Brooke Shields and Dylan Walsh) are no-longer-young lovers in Woodville, Texas. She's the sort of Southern belle who's been in training her whole life to be a kept woman and he's the poor working shmuck who's convinced himself he has to keep her. To satisfy their desires to keep and be kept, they hatch a plan to rob the bank where Cyndee works and then sneak the money out of the country to the Cayman Islands. Cyndee and Frank are the sort of criminal masterminds that think they can buy a big house in the suburbs with their ill gotten gains, never considering how they're going to explain their new found wealth to their friends, neighbors or the IRS. So, it's no surprise that shortly after the bank robbery, an FBI agent named Royce (Rip Torn) zeroes in on Cyndee and Frank as suspects.
The crime is about as complicated as a game of Tic Tac Toe and the investigation is about as involved as playing hide and go seek with one of those 700 pound shut in's whose fat flaps have to be washed by other people. Perhaps realizing that, these filmmakers throw in a passel of minor characters who may have been modeled on folks from the real bank robbery this movie is based on, but they all should have been eliminated. They're all poorly written, not much better performed and contribute nothing to the story that couldn't have been done in either a smarter or funnier way. While watching The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery, I couldn't help feel like I was seeing something intended for an audience that dropped out of school in the 9th grade. It's that unsubtle and direct. There's also this wildly out of place ominous music that crops up on the soundtrack whenever the film tries to generate a little tension, but it's so baldly manipulative and arbitrary that it works more like a laugh track.
But Brooke Shields gives a performance that makes you understand what the phrase "high maintenance woman" means and why some women get away with being like that. Dylan Walsh is okay. He does appear to be playing this story about 15 degrees more serious than anyone else in the cast. Rip Torn is well, Rip Torn. His role isn't even well enough developed to make it as a punch line, so there's not much else he could be.
The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery isn't any good at all, but honestly? I've seen so many films sooooooo much worse than this, I can't help but grade it on a curve. Watching this movie didn't make me feel like I was slapped in the face with a carp or sodomized with an electric toothbrush. It didn't leave me writing around in my chair, desperate for it to be over, and it never made me want to throw something at the TV. If that's not damning something with faint praise, I don't know what is.
Cyndee Lafrance and Frank Syler (Brooke Shields and Dylan Walsh) are no-longer-young lovers in Woodville, Texas. She's the sort of Southern belle who's been in training her whole life to be a kept woman and he's the poor working shmuck who's convinced himself he has to keep her. To satisfy their desires to keep and be kept, they hatch a plan to rob the bank where Cyndee works and then sneak the money out of the country to the Cayman Islands. Cyndee and Frank are the sort of criminal masterminds that think they can buy a big house in the suburbs with their ill gotten gains, never considering how they're going to explain their new found wealth to their friends, neighbors or the IRS. So, it's no surprise that shortly after the bank robbery, an FBI agent named Royce (Rip Torn) zeroes in on Cyndee and Frank as suspects.
The crime is about as complicated as a game of Tic Tac Toe and the investigation is about as involved as playing hide and go seek with one of those 700 pound shut in's whose fat flaps have to be washed by other people. Perhaps realizing that, these filmmakers throw in a passel of minor characters who may have been modeled on folks from the real bank robbery this movie is based on, but they all should have been eliminated. They're all poorly written, not much better performed and contribute nothing to the story that couldn't have been done in either a smarter or funnier way. While watching The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery, I couldn't help feel like I was seeing something intended for an audience that dropped out of school in the 9th grade. It's that unsubtle and direct. There's also this wildly out of place ominous music that crops up on the soundtrack whenever the film tries to generate a little tension, but it's so baldly manipulative and arbitrary that it works more like a laugh track.
But Brooke Shields gives a performance that makes you understand what the phrase "high maintenance woman" means and why some women get away with being like that. Dylan Walsh is okay. He does appear to be playing this story about 15 degrees more serious than anyone else in the cast. Rip Torn is well, Rip Torn. His role isn't even well enough developed to make it as a punch line, so there's not much else he could be.
The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery isn't any good at all, but honestly? I've seen so many films sooooooo much worse than this, I can't help but grade it on a curve. Watching this movie didn't make me feel like I was slapped in the face with a carp or sodomized with an electric toothbrush. It didn't leave me writing around in my chair, desperate for it to be over, and it never made me want to throw something at the TV. If that's not damning something with faint praise, I don't know what is.
A comedy farce
tealtweety15 June 2021
So very, very bland...
paul_haakonsen29 September 2021
When I sat down to watch "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" here in 2021, I have to admit that I had never even heard about this movie before. I stumbled upon the movie by random luck and saw that the movie had Brooke Shields in the lead role. And with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen before and having Brooke Shields on the cast list, of course I took the time to watch it.
As it turned out then writer Adam Greenman and director David Burton Morris didn't exactly manage to churn out a particularly exciting or interesting movie here. So the movie did fall somewhat short of managing to provide me with much of any entertainment.
The storyline told in "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" was just a swing and a miss, and the plot just never was appealing to me. So my interest in the movie was quickly fading as the movie trotted on and on. And the bland character gallery didn't really help much to sell the movie either.
The acting in the movie was also bland, especially since the actors and actresses had nothing to work with in terms of a proper script, storyline or characters. Sure, the movie can be watched solely because of Brooke Shields is in it, but if you're watching movies for a proper entertainment aspect, then "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" is not a great choice.
My rating of "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.
As it turned out then writer Adam Greenman and director David Burton Morris didn't exactly manage to churn out a particularly exciting or interesting movie here. So the movie did fall somewhat short of managing to provide me with much of any entertainment.
The storyline told in "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" was just a swing and a miss, and the plot just never was appealing to me. So my interest in the movie was quickly fading as the movie trotted on and on. And the bland character gallery didn't really help much to sell the movie either.
The acting in the movie was also bland, especially since the actors and actresses had nothing to work with in terms of a proper script, storyline or characters. Sure, the movie can be watched solely because of Brooke Shields is in it, but if you're watching movies for a proper entertainment aspect, then "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" is not a great choice.
My rating of "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.
Very Well Done Movie!
evolbaby24 September 2006
I accidentally ran into this movie while fixing my TV/computer. I saw Brooke Sheilds all dolled up in an eccentric outfit and started giggling. It took only a few minutes for her and the other actors to actually charm me into watching this film. I was confused as I had no recall of it being a theatrical release. I then checked here at IMDb and found out it was a TV movie! What a waste! It should have been released in theatres! It really has charm, comedy, suspense, warmth, and excellent performances and fine direction. There are some films that have memorable performances and these folks really dug in and made these characters a riot.
It's too funny and I won't give out spoilers. It doesn't have any sleaze or violence but it has those characters you would see in an episode of 'Cops'. Well worth the purchase and rental. A real unexpected treat. Anyone saying Brooke Shields can't act should be taken out back and beaten with a half roasted buffalo hoof.
It's too funny and I won't give out spoilers. It doesn't have any sleaze or violence but it has those characters you would see in an episode of 'Cops'. Well worth the purchase and rental. A real unexpected treat. Anyone saying Brooke Shields can't act should be taken out back and beaten with a half roasted buffalo hoof.
perfect
tedge-21 November 1999
Endearing, fast-paced offspring of Raising Arizona (1987) and "actual events", this jinxed comedy debuted on US tv during the dog days of summer when everyone I know was still on vacation. Please be home the next time it's aired.
Filmed several years earlier at a moment in history when it would've been hyped as a Brooke Shields/Rip Torn vehicle, "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" will one day be known as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dylan Walsh's commanding performance.
A catchy score, richly-detailed comic touches in every scene, great attention to the peculiar supporting cast (at least five of whom were huge fun to watch in Radioland Murders), and the genial spoofing of our fondness for mall openings and "Wheel of Fortune"--none of the above would've kept me glued to the tube if it weren't for the adhesive that Dylan Walsh's performance applied to all that silliness.
He created a character SO earnest and SO focused (in perfect contrast to his scatterbrained sweetheart) that purely in sympathy I HAD to take the movie as seriously as he took his caper. While the rest of the cast diverts our attention with comic vignettes, all the suspense, all the credibility, and our only hold on this runaway train of a plot--it's all to be found on Walsh's face and in his body language. As the pressure builds, he lets us see his confidence begin to crumble, just a little at a time, while laboring to hide his feelings from everyone else.
Brooke Shields's lie-detector scene will make you laugh out loud (good acting, great writing), but Walsh's lie-detector scene will make you sweat. Does any actor since Peter Lorre do pure anxiety better than Dylan Walsh?
The director, who clearly enjoys drawing our attention to so many visual details, was right to comment that his movie was "almost" perfect; no movie is perfect if it can't manage a scene in a car without yanking the rear-view mirror. I HATE that! We've overcome the difficulties of ceilings and wall-to-wall carpeting, but in this age of Industrial Light & Magic, why oh why is it still so hard to show us the rear-view mirror?
Filmed several years earlier at a moment in history when it would've been hyped as a Brooke Shields/Rip Torn vehicle, "The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery" will one day be known as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dylan Walsh's commanding performance.
A catchy score, richly-detailed comic touches in every scene, great attention to the peculiar supporting cast (at least five of whom were huge fun to watch in Radioland Murders), and the genial spoofing of our fondness for mall openings and "Wheel of Fortune"--none of the above would've kept me glued to the tube if it weren't for the adhesive that Dylan Walsh's performance applied to all that silliness.
He created a character SO earnest and SO focused (in perfect contrast to his scatterbrained sweetheart) that purely in sympathy I HAD to take the movie as seriously as he took his caper. While the rest of the cast diverts our attention with comic vignettes, all the suspense, all the credibility, and our only hold on this runaway train of a plot--it's all to be found on Walsh's face and in his body language. As the pressure builds, he lets us see his confidence begin to crumble, just a little at a time, while laboring to hide his feelings from everyone else.
Brooke Shields's lie-detector scene will make you laugh out loud (good acting, great writing), but Walsh's lie-detector scene will make you sweat. Does any actor since Peter Lorre do pure anxiety better than Dylan Walsh?
The director, who clearly enjoys drawing our attention to so many visual details, was right to comment that his movie was "almost" perfect; no movie is perfect if it can't manage a scene in a car without yanking the rear-view mirror. I HATE that! We've overcome the difficulties of ceilings and wall-to-wall carpeting, but in this age of Industrial Light & Magic, why oh why is it still so hard to show us the rear-view mirror?
My 'almost perfect' movie still remains unreleased.
dga12319 January 1999
Of all the Movies of the Week I've made in the past several years, this remains the one I had the best time making, and at the same time, achieves most of what I was trying to do as a filmmaker. But, alas, it remains on the shelf at CBS, caught in a tangle of 'internal politics', or so I'm told. If it ever sees the light of day, check it out.
An almost "perfect" movie
jingster666621 May 2016
I feel that this movie is a superb effort which truly meets all the normal criteria upon which movies are typically judged by so-called "experts." It is well-directed, well-acted, well-written, and is totally enjoyable with great pacing. Can't remember the last time I've had so much fun! The comedy aspect is a revelation, especially with regard to Shields! Who knew? I've suffered with Brooke through all her various incarnations on film while squirming in my seat with embarrassment for her. I've been pulling for her for years in hopes of better acting days without actually believing that those days would come. But with this performance, she's finally been able to put it all together by giving a mature, highly-professional, fully-developed comedic character portrayal - - a most difficult acting assignment. The supporting cast is also equal to the task with the inimitable Rip Torn leading the way with his portrayal of FBI lead-agent, Royce, who's in love with his large collection of lawn mowers. And Dylan Walsh's performance as the easily-influenced boyfriend/husband who's lost in love with Shield's "ultimate babe" character provides some needed balance to this otherwise unbalanced relationship. The outright knee-slapping, belly laughs are provided by Walsh's lowlife junkyard brother and his wife, Marlene (who changes TV channels with a pair of vice grips!...and physically assaults him for the credit cards to go to the new mall opening.) Their search for the proper spelling of the word "savory", had me rolling on the living room floor holding my sides and fighting for breath! Now the true elitist cinefile might dismiss this inexpensive, made-for-TV effort as just moderately good junk, but I feel it is a major, overlooked jewel that deserves a better fate than to be found only in the blow-out bin at the local Walmart. It can still be ordered online, if not downloaded and streamed. I suggest you do just that for a truly enjoyable evening of superb fun entertainment.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
