Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Masterminds Blu-ray Movie Review

Dumb and dumber and dumbest.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 1, 2017

Loomis Fargo & Company evidently had a few gaping holes in their employee vetting protocols, at least as evidenced by two record breaking robberies the “cash handling” (i.e., armored car) company suffered in quick succession in the late 1990s. This inattention to hiring people not interested in stealing unbelievable amounts of cash may have had something to do with the fact that in 1997, when two huge thefts occurred, the company had just undergone a merger, combining Loomis (which had been founded in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, back in the 1920s) and Wells Fargo Armored Service, which of course has a vaunted history stretching back into the 19th century (in one form or another). In March 1997 an employee named Philip Noel Johnson made off with a staggering $18.8 million. Perhaps indicative of his relative sad sack status, another Loomis employee named David Scott Ghantt was able to purloin “only” $17.3 million a few months later when he, along with a coterie of co-conspirators, were inspired by Johnson’s theft and decided that they could do it, too. Masterminds purports to be the story of Ghantt and his oddball crew, but the film wants to add a cartoonish ambience to the proceedings that never really provides as much comedic impetus as might be hoped for, especially given a cast full of such talented laugh provokers as Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. The appearance of Wiig, McKinnon and Jones might indicate a certain Saturday Night Live-esque ambience to proceedings, but indeed like many SNL skits, there’s a definite hit or miss quality to the film, and in fact it ends up feeling like it’s overstayed its already tenuous welcome, much like the vignettes that are often typically stuffed into the latenight weekend show’s last half hour.

The real life Ghantt evidently provided “technical assistance” on the film, and he’s on hand in the supplemental featurette which attempts to give the “real story” behind the film’s rather whimsical take on what happened, and I personally ended up wishing the film might have stayed closer to what seems to be Ghantt’s rather dry sense of humor, rather than making things more a Looney Tunes enterprise. (Ghantt rather ruefully tells his interviewer that if you’re going to dye your hair to avoid being recognized, it’s best to read the instructions on the box first, something he evidently didn’t do, leading to a mishap.) Instead of a “ripped from the headlines” approach, Masterminds instead prefers a “ripped from the comics page” take on the subject, immediately positing Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) as a nerd with a Dutch Boy haircut and too much facial hair who dreams of being a hero but who is obviously a more or less complete loser in virtually every area of his real life.

Ghantt is immediately enamored of fellow employee Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig), this despite the fact that he’s engaged to a weird countryfied gal named Jandice (Kate McKinnon, in truly bizarre form). Ghantt and Kelly go on a few quasi-dates with each other, including to a shooting range where Ghantt manages to give himself a serious skin burn when his gun discharges down his pants (just one indication of the low bar the film’s screenplay sets for its putative jokes). Meanwhile, Kelly gets fired and ends up holing up with her friend Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson), who supposedly hatches the plan for the robbery, utilizing Kelly to get to Ghantt, and Ghantt to get to the actual piles of cold, hard cash.

It probably goes without saying, at least given the historical record, that this unlikely trio does in fact manage to pull off the heist, and it’s here in the aftermath of this supposed victory that the film might have done a really charming job of detailing the dysfunction between the conspirators. Instead, the film attempts to introduce a hard charging FBI agent named Scanlon (Leslie Jones) who offers occasionally effective one liners as she attempts to figure out what happened and who’s responsible. Ghantt meanwhile hightails it out of the country, leaving Kelly and Steve to their own devices, something that again isn’t developed especially artfully, with Steve wanting to simply cut Ghantt loose and Kelly evidently having developed some real feelings for her unlikely accomplice.

The film attempts to tip over into complete lunacy when Steve hires a hitman named Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis) to dispose of Ghantt, but instead of combining a breezy atmosphere with hints of danger, the film just seems forced and protracted, never generating a lot of humor and often seeming like an ill prepared improv exercise (which it may indeed have been, at least in part). Masterminds is often bright from a production design standpoint, making the most of both the homegrown trailer park aesthetic of some of the participants as well as the much more luxe environment Ghantt finds himself in way down south, but there’s neither sufficient comedy nor sufficient suspense offered in the film, even divorced from the fact that anyone who remembers the actual robbery is going to know the general outlines of how things ultimately played out.

You can sense that the cast is dedicated here almost to the point of desperation, attempting to wrest humor out of potty jokes and the like, but there’s simply not smart enough writing to provide any sound foundation. They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and one might wonder if maybe something closer to the truth, rather than these outlandish cartoonish characters, might have been funnier, too.

Masterminds Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Masterminds is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb (once again) doesn't list a camera, but a couple of online sources state that the Arri Alexa XT was utilized, and the film has a nicely sharp and well detailed image in the many brightly lit sequences, with occasional murkiness setting in when things are not so well lit. A number of nice looking outdoor locations both stateside and what the IMDb lists as Puerto Rico pop very well in bright, sunny atmospheres, with vivid primaries contrasting with more subtle hues. Fine detail in these moments is also typically excellent, showing the bristly beard adorning Ghantt's face and detailing nice precision in fabrics of costumes and upholstery. Slight color grading occasionally detracts from detail levels, with some yellowish scenes inside Ghantt's ramshackle home and blue toned sequences featuring the intrepid FBI agents sometimes not quite at the same levels of sharpness and general detail as the bulk of the presentation.

Masterminds Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Masterminds' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track doesn't offer a glut of over the top surround activity, but it occasionally bursts forth with energy when a few of the source cues intrude on certain scenes, or in some manic moments like the struggle of Ghantt to evade some Interpol agents and, later, a showdown at a big party. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and fidelity is excellent throughout the problem free audio presentation.

Masterminds Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Imperfect Crime (1080p; 16:30) is for my money better than the actual film, as brief as it is. This features the real life Ghantt as well as other people involved in the story and presents a somewhat different accounting of everything than the film's more chaotic take on events.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:16)

Masterminds Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I kept hoping some big laughs were just around the corner in Masterminds, but aside from the fitful humor generated by McKinnon in full on gonzo mode and Jones more or less browbeating the audience into submission I was woefully underwhelmed by a lot of this film. That said, it's bright and colorful and it's obvious the cast is trying hard—maybe a bit too obvious and a bit too hard. Technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.