MartinHafer "Criminal" is the American version of an Argentinian film, "Nine Queens". "Nine Queens" is an amazingly good picture...so good that I recommend you see it. Should you bother seeing this Americanization? Read on to see.The story begins with a clumsy young grifter, Rodrigo (Diego Luna), scamming in a casino. Another grifter, the more experienced and suave Richard (John C. Reilly), sees what's happening...and sees when one of the employees recognize that they are being swindled. So, Richard pretends to be a cop and 'arrests' Rodrigo...and after leaving the casino, Richard offers to hire the young man, as he needs a new partner. But first, to make sure he can handle it, they spend the day cheating people...to make sure Rodrigo is good at his craft. So where does all this go next and what does a forged bank note have to do with them? See the film.Richard is an extremely crude, unlikable and crass guy. While I usually hate that in movies, considering he's supposed to be a complete sociopath, it actually makes sense to have him be so awful. Reilly does a fine job here...though my wife said "I prefer him when he plays idiots like in TALLADEGA NIGHTS"). As for the rest, they're fine and the movie is enjoyable and intelligently made. But the bottom line is that it is NOT original and so the movie loses a point or so. Still, it's is good and well worth your time...if you are, for some reason, dead set against seeing the better original.

Martha Savila I rented "Criminal" when I briefly read the description of the plot. When I started to see it, I realized that it was a remake of the Argentinian "9 Queens". What a disappointment! I believe any remake should make it clear that it's a copy/ adaptation of another (foreign or local) film. I am not against remakes, I just feel that I am entitled to know this detail, specially if they completely change the name/title. By the way, in my opinion "9 Queens" is way superior to "Criminal". First, both lead actors are more authentic in "9 Queens", and they are very representative of a period of Argentinian reality. Diego Luna's average Mexican immigrant looks and accent made him a complete miscast, and Gyllenhaal just imitated the Argentinian leading lady.

jzappa Before setting forth reading my review of Criminal, you must take into account that it's apart of a genre that I cannot get enough of. Even if I finally have gotten out of an obsessive heist/ con phase that lasted almost half a decade, I still glow with infinite enthusiasm when I see one. I've seen Criminal about eight times now. Not as many times as I've seen Ocean's Eleven and Twelve, The Good Thief, Bound, Heist, or Gambit, but considering the amount of time that spans from the present and the time when I first saw it, eight is a big number.Considering the point of view of someone who is not as enthusiastic about heist and con movies, I would have to say this movie is a forgettable piece of channel-flipping entertainment. It's a very well-written, well-acted movie, but you have to be at least a little bit of a fan of the genre, because there's nothing else you can consider it to be. It has the subtlest elements of comedy, drama, and thriller. It couldn't be ruled out as one of the three, because they each blend in so elusively into the film's atmosphere. If you are a fan of the genre, you are in for a more than satisfying treat, almost an orgasm. If you are not, I suppose you can like it well enough, mainly for John C. Reilly's fantastically sleazy performance.It's a great con story with truly surprising twists all through the film, beginning with a series of wonderfully clever short cons that are surely not repeated from any other con films (and believe me, even the most obscure con film you can think of I've probably seen). It's a brain- buster but very relaxing to watch, an easy recliner of a movie, possibly thanks to the very plain, simplistic film-making, almost like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. John C. Reilly adds loads to the level of enjoyment one gets out of this movie, very clearly enjoying his genuinely nasty, arrogant, greedy character. He steals every scene, among other things, and makes for one of the most entertaining grifters in the movies, loud and care-free rather than the usual introverted yet unrealistically suave stoic that we usually see as the thief or con artist in these movies. His level of crassness and immorality, which he blatantly cares nothing about, is sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious in that low-brow way.

Ebert Nueve Reinas, the original story, is so much better, that is difficult to see that copy. Why Hollywood insist in don't translate the dialogs of the foreign films that American audiences could like, and release them? What is the reason that they are so f..... chauvinists? The rest of those lines is only to fill that obligatory rule of ten lines. Why ten? Why not twelve or fifteen? Maybee is the same reason for the actual blockbusters have 120 minutes or more. If you could't tell a story in 90 minutes, forget'it. I'm tired of those idiot "epilogues" that don't do nothing to the film narrative. Blá, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.