Thick as Thieves

MOVIE #1,223 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 11.06.23 • VOLUME LIII • I realize there’s a whole podcast devoted to it (I’ve never listened), but I have to ask here: How did this get made? It’s a $25-million budget heist action flick starring Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas that was released direct-to-DVD in 2009. Directed by Deep Impact and Pay It Forward’s Mimi Leder and also featuring Tom Hardy and Robert Forster in supporting roles, it feels like a tax write-off. One critic observed, “the sadness created by this film could be cured only by its quick descent into well-deserved oblivion” and in that sense, this is the perfect TRUE RANDOM entry: a movie that seemingly only exists to be seen after it is 100% randomly generated as a selection.

There’s next to no information as to why this was so unceremoniously dumped into video hell. While it’s definitely “not very good,” it’s far from the worst movie ever made, featuring real A-listers, a legitimate director and fine production value shot on location in Manhattan. But I am not going to spend anymore time down this rabbit hole so we’ll just have to chalk it up to one of life’s great mysteries.

At times, it’s fairly watchable because of its stars. It has a somewhat campy B-movie vibe and the cat-and-mouse aspect of the plot feels like a throwback to a foregone era…


But any enjoyment is ruined by its myriad flaws, chiefly its borderline nonsensical plot that has zero arc and flow. It feels like an 8th grader wrote the screenplay, which is Asylum-level bad. I leave you with this moment, presented without comment…

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Thick as Thieves (also known as The Code) is a 2009 American/German heist action thriller film directed by Mimi Leder, starring Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, and Radha Mitchell. It was released on April 17, 2009.