Gone in Sixty Seconds

Fifty cars to steal. Three days to do it. One contrived piece of

moviemaking.

Story

The improbably named Memphis Raines (Nicolas Cage) was a legendary auto

thief until -- you guessed it -- he gave up his corrupt ways and went

straight in the time-honored tradition of sympathetic Hollywood crooks.

Now his kid brother (Giovanni Ribisi) is in deep doo-doo with a fearsome

British hood (Christopher Eccleston), and Memphis is forced to make one

of the more ridiculous bargains in crime movie history: Either he goes

out and boosts 50 high-end cars or the bad guys will whack his bro.

Acting

Fat paychecks from mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer ensured this cast

would be packed with talented actors, including Cage, Ribisi, Angelina

Jolie, Delroy Lindo and Robert Duvall. No one is particularly good, no

one is particularly bad -- just a little bored. Cage, who previously

starred for Bruckheimer in "The Rock" and "Con Air," sleepwalks through

his least inspired performance in recent memory. Supporting players such

as Jolie and Duvall are strictly window dressing to class up this

shameless commercial venture.

Direction

While helmer Dominic Sena ("Kalifornia") isn't quite as in-your-face

with the hyperactive MTV style as past Bruckheimer henchmen Michael Bay

("Armageddon") and Tony Scott ("Enemy of the State"), all the producer's

trademarks are here -- the glossy TV commercial visuals, the pounding

rock music, the simplistic characterizations cynically aiming for the

lowest common denominator. It's all very polished on the technical

level, and Sena delivers some high-octane. Too bad there's that dull

90-minute chunk of dramatic build-up to sit through first.

Bottom Line

Did somebody steal the script?