Almost Perfect Bank Robbery

Rating:
Summary: LAWN MOWER MAN
Review: Rip Torn plays an FBI agent who has thirty-five or more lawn mowers, his apparent hobby in this innocuous but unremarkable movie, which is supposedly based on true events. Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck, Congo) plays ex-navy seal Frank Syler who finds himself engaged/married to the perfect babe, Cyndi (played with a comic flourish by Brooke Shields). Only problem is Cyndi wants the best things in life and so in order to accommodate her, they plan to rob the bank where Cyndi works. Do they get away with it, and what is with this bracelet of Cyndi's which she's always losing. Hint: it figures prominently in the movie's resolution.
Shields and Walsh have little chemistry together, but both try gamely to bring some life to their cardboard characters. Sherie Rene Scott as Dana, Cyndi's workmate and friend, plays the dumb blonde to the point of sincerity that one wonders if she ISN'T really that dumb. Torn has some almost good moments, but the script's weakness is that Torn has no problem at all in immediately without any real proof assuming Walsh is guilty. Pedestrian direction by David Burton Morris doesn't help, and Alessandro Nivola as Doug the Bug is atrocious. But in spite of its many flaws, it's an occasionally entertaining caper, better than a lot of other higher priced fare, e.g. Ocean's 12.