Contrary to its cheeky title, Crime 101 is not a tale about a mild-mannered professor who moonlights as a thief. Its true conceit is much more familiar — maybe to its detriment, as the feature debut from Bart Layton has lifted its story from countless better movies.
Crime 101 lifts heavily from the oeuvre of Michael Mann, particularly Heat, in setting this thriller in Los Angeles. The “101” in its title is for the 101 freeway, which our solitary jewel thief, Mike (Chris Hemsworth), uses to make clean getaways. That anyone could carve out a life of crime in a metropolis so choked by traffic is a silly concept at best, and the first of many plot holes at worst. But Layton is particularly adept at distracting us from any of it: Crime 101 lays on the cool factor with a lead foot, leaving questions of consistency in the dust. Deceptively fast-paced and cleverly slick, it demands our undivided attention. But does it know what to do with it once it has it?
