“Masterminds” is a comedy about a bank heist that should work. It has Zach Galifianakis as the bumbling security guard, Owen Wilson as the schemer, Kristen Wiig as the femme fatale, and Jason Sudeikis as the straight man. On paper, that lineup is the kind of casting that makes a movie worth seeing. In practice, the film spends 95 minutes trying to be funny and mostly failing.
The premise is simple. David Ghantt, played by Galifianakis, is a night guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. He gets pulled into a scheme by Steve Chambers, played by Wilson, and Kelly Campbell, played by Wiig, to rob one of the biggest banks in America. The tagline asks what you would do with $17 million. The answer, in this movie, is not much.
Trailer, via Relativity Media.
The Heist That Never Takes Off
The robbery itself is the spine of the story. Ghantt, Chambers and Campbell plan to steal $18 million from Loomis Fargo. Ghantt loads the cash into a getaway van. He removes three CCTV tapes but forgets one. Then he flees to Mexico with $20,000 in hand. Chambers absconds with the rest, about $17 million.
The problem is that the heist is set up as the joke. The setup is elaborate, with Ghantt training in unusual ways and Chambers running the operation from behind the scenes. But once the robbery happens, the film stops being clever and starts being dull. The payoff is a series of chase scenes and a finale that feels rushed, not earned.
Galifianakis Carries the Weight
Galifianakis is the engine of the film. His David Ghantt is a man who is engaged to Jandice, played by Kate McKinnon, and who falls for Kelly Campbell. He is clumsy, awkward and completely unprepared for the criminal world he has stepped into. Galifianakis plays this with the kind of physical comedy that worked in “The Hangover.” Here, it does not translate.
The problem is that the script gives him nothing to do once the heist begins. He is a prop in the action, not a participant. The film keeps cutting back to him, expecting the audience to laugh at his confusion, but the confusion is not funny. It is just confusion.
Wiig and Wilson Are Better Than the Material
Wiig and Wilson are both capable comedians. Wiig’s Kelly Campbell is the one who draws Ghantt into the scheme, leading him on with promises of a life in Mexico. Wilson’s Steve Chambers is the mastermind, the one who arranges the alias “Gepetto” and the fake identity “Michael McKinney.” Both actors find moments to shine, but the material around them is thin.
Wiig’s chemistry with Galifianakis is the best thing in the film. Their scenes together have a spark that the rest of the movie cannot match. But even that is limited by the script, which keeps Kelly as a temptress rather than a fully realized character.
The Supporting Cast Is Overstaffed
The rest of the cast is overstaffed. Kate McKinnon plays Jandice, Ghantt’s unpleasant fiancée. Leslie Jones plays Agent Scanlon, the FBI agent investigating the case. Mary Elizabeth Ellis plays Michelle Chambers. Ken Marino plays Doug. Karsten Friske plays Cort Chambers. Dallas Edwards plays Ken Chambers. Devin Ratray plays Runny. Jon Daly plays Detective Ross.
None of these characters matter. They exist to fill out the frame, not to drive the story. The film is so crowded that the central relationship between Ghantt and Kelly gets lost in the shuffle. A tighter script would have cut half of these roles and let the core trio breathe.
The Tone Never Lands
The tone of “Masterminds” is a constant struggle. It wants to be a crime comedy, but it keeps dipping into drama and thriller territory. The result is a film that never commits to either mode. It is neither funny enough to be a comedy nor tense enough to be a thriller.
The film’s biggest flaw is its lack of focus. It introduces a large cast of characters and then barely develops any of them. The supporting roles are wasted, and the story loses momentum as it tries to juggle too many threads.
What Works in the Film
There are a few moments where the film clicks. The setup scenes, where Ghantt is trained in unusual ways, are genuinely amusing. The chemistry between Wiig and Galifianakis is real, even when the script around them is weak. And there are a handful of jokes that land, mostly in the early going.
But these moments are isolated. They do not add up to a coherent movie. The film is a collection of good ideas that never cohere into a whole.
Where It Falls Short
The film fails in almost every structural category. Its pacing is uneven. Its character development is nonexistent. Its humor is hit-or-miss. Its action is generic. Its ending is rushed. There is no single element that lifts the movie above its flaws.
The film also struggles with its central premise. A bank heist is a premise that should generate tension. Instead, the film treats it as a punchline. The robbery happens, the money is split, and the rest of the runtime is spent chasing the characters down.
Comparing It to the Source Material
The film is based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina. That is a real event, and the film leans on the details of the actual heist. But the adaptation is loose, and the real story is far more interesting than the screen version. The real heist involved a security guard named Philip Johnson, who stole $18 million. The film changes the names and the stakes, but the core is the same.
The film’s marketing leaned on the tagline “What would you do with $17 million?” That question is a good one. The film’s answer is not. It shows Ghantt taking the money and running, but it never explores what he does with it. The film is so focused on the getting that it forgets the having.
A Score That Matches the Review
“Masterminds” is a film that critics have rated poorly, and this review agrees with that assessment. The movie is a mess of a heist comedy that never finds its footing. It has a good cast, a decent premise and a runtime that should have been shorter.
The film’s strengths are limited. Galifianakis is game. Wiig is talented. The premise is promising. None of that is enough to save a movie that is fundamentally flawed. The comedy does not land, the drama does not engage, and the heist does not excite.
Here is how the elements rank:
- The setup scenes, which are genuinely amusing
- The chemistry between Wiig and Galifianakis
- A handful of jokes that land in the early going
- The action, which is generic but serviceable
- The tone, which never settles on a single mode
- The pacing, which is uneven throughout
- The character development, which barely exists
- The ending, which rushes the final act
“Masterminds” is a film that should have been better. It has the pieces of a great comedy: a likable lead, a scheming villain, a romantic subplot and a heist that could have been tense. Instead, it is a film that never delivers on its promise. It is a comedy that is not funny, a thriller that is not thrilling and a drama that is not dramatic.
The film’s failure is not a personal one. It is a structural one. The comedy does not land, the drama does not engage, and the heist does not excite. The film is a reminder that talent is not enough. A great cast can elevate a good script, but it cannot save a bad one. “Masterminds” is a bad script with a great cast, and that is a recipe for disappointment.
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