“The Maiden Heist” is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film’s all-star cast.   All four Academy Award winners – Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!
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TITLE: The Maiden Heist
DURATION: 90Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Anamorphic Widescreen 2:40:1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13 (For Some Strong Language, Nudity and Brief Fantasy Violence)
RELEASED: November 24, 2009
Directed by Peter Hewitt
Written by Michael LeSieur
Executive Producer: David Glasser
Producer: Morgan Freeman, Lori McCreary, Rob Paris, Bob Yari
Co-Producer: Kim H. Winther
Line Producer: Jonathan McCoy
Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Cinematography by Ueli Steiger
Edited by Carole Kravetz
Casting by Susan Shopmaker
Production Design by Chris Roope
Art Direction by Gershon Ginsburg
Set Decoration by Lisa Nilsson
Costume Design by Ha Nguyen
Starring:
Morgan Freeman as Charles
Christopher Walken as Roger
Marcia Gay Harden as Roger’s wife
William H. Macy as George
Back in May 2009, I was awaiting the film “The Maiden Heist” which featured an all-star cast featuring Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman (“Unforgiven”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Million Dollar Baby”), Christopher Walken (“The Deer Hunter”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Wayne’s World 2”), William H. Macy (“Fargo”, “Jurassic Park 3”, “Seabiscuit”) and Marcia Gay Harden (“Pollock”, “Damages”, “Mystic River”).
The film was directed by Peter Hewitt (“Garfield”, “Zoom”), a screenplay by Michael LeSieur (“You, Me and Dupree”), music by Rupert Gregson-Williams (“Bedtime Stories”, “Made of Honor”, “You Don’t Mess with Zohan”) and cinematography by Ueli Steiger (“10,000 BC”, “Nomad”, “The Day After Tomorrow”).
All would seem good for an early summer release but then the film’s distributor Yari Film Group (known for films such as “The Illusionist”, “Kickin’ It Old School”, “The Accidental Husband”) filed for bankruptcy and the film was shelved. The film did happen to debut at the Edinburgh International Film Festival but unfortunately, that was it. And now the film has its DVD release courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
“The Maiden Heist” starts off with Roger (Christopher Walken) who works in security for a major museum where the painting the “Lonely Maiden” is kept. Roger absolutely adores this painting. He dreams of himself defending the painting from thieves and he’s literally in love with the painting and knows all the details about it. Meanwhile, back at home, his wife (played by Marcia Gay Harden) dreams about going to Miami and has been saving her money specifically for this trip.
Roger is not very talkative towards his wife. In fact, he goes home, puts on his beret, listens to French music and just reads about the “Lonely Maiden”.
But life starts to become disrupted when he finds out that “The Lonely Maiden” and other artifacts from the museum are being shipped out overseas to Denmark. Roger is absolutely crushed. He then discovers that he is not the only one. Another security guard named Charles (played by Morgan Freeman) is also enamored with another painting in the museum and has been in love with it. So, in love to the point that he has painted the exact painting in his home. But similar to how Roger is with the “Lonely Maiden”, Charles is with the painting that he enjoyed for so many years.
After meeting over lunch, Charles comes up with an idea…”why not steal the paintings” they love. But of course, Roger is quite dedicated to his job and tells Charles that they are security guards with a job to protect the paintings not steal them. But life then changes when Charles discovers another person in security who is enamored with a sculpture at the museum. Charles shows Roger surveillance captured of the other security guard named George (played by William H. Macy). George has some unusual fetish as a late night security guard and likes to strip off all his clothes in front of the sculpture (which is a naked man showing off his muscles) and do a similar pose.
Charles and Roger feel that with another man to help them, they can probably pull of another heist. After talking to George (who used to be part of the Marines), he absolutely is supportive of the idea. Why not create forgeries of the paintings and the sculpture and replace them before they are shipped to Denmark. Will the three be able to pull off the heist?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Maiden Heist” is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2:40:1) and for the most part, cinematography by Ueli Steiger is done quite well. Shot in Boston and also at the Worcester Art Museum, most of the film takes place in the museum but also at Roger and Charles apartment.Lighting is well-done and for the most part, all three men look great and despite being older men, the film gives the men a youthful spin as these guys must try to pull of the unthinkable. Picture quality for the most part is well done and good use of utilization of shots throughout the film but the film does look very good.
Audio-wise, the film is featured in English 5.1 Dolby Digital. The film is primarily dialogue driven and also jazzy music plays a part in the film as well. Thus it’s more or less front and center channel driven. I didn’t notice a whole lot of surround usage as this film is not exactly an action film. But for the most part, dialogue is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Maiden Heist” comes with the following special features:
- Director, Writer and Producer Commentary - Audio commentary by Director Pete Hewitt, Writer Michael LeSieur and Producer Rob Paris. An enjoyable and informative commentary providing insight to the characters and film-making details of the set location, production design and scenes.
- In the Presence of Art: Making The Maiden Heist Featurette – (17:40) Featuring the cast and crew talking about the film. The cast talk about their characters while the director talked about how this film had an awesome script but it was all about when the film would become a reality.
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary – Featuring optional commentary for 12 short deleted scenes which include: Roger and Charlie Meet, Too Much Gas, Over My Dead Body, A Few Words from the Curator, Donnie, The Lovely Mr. Needlebaum, A Few Words from George, It’s Me They want, The Shirt, Waiting for Roger, The Avant Guard, More Donnie
- Bloopers Reel – (2:45) Bloopers from “The Maiden Heist”
- Previews – Trailers for upcoming Sony Pictures Home Entertainment films on Blu-ray and DVD.
After watching this film, I enjoyed the film and its witty sense of humor but also how clever the screenplay is. Director Peter Hewitt said that one of the things that came to his mind when working on this film are those security guards at a museum. Many are old and what keeps them going in such a job. And the film tries to showcase how these three security guards just fall in love with a certain item at the museum and are very protective of it. Granted, I don’t any security guards at museums personally to know if this happens in real life but if it does, that would be quite interesting.
As mentioned, these three Academy Award winning men look absolutely full of youth. It was fun to see Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy so energetic. In fact, surprising enough, the PG-13 rating comes from William H. Macy’s nude scenes. And these three play interesting characters. Although it’s not in your face, Freeman plays a gay man, Walken plays a husband who doesn’t really take notice of his wife because he’s so in love with a painting and Macy’s character, although he’s pretty gung-ho and talks about the Marines, his hobby of taking off his clothes in front of a nude male statue is a bit odd. Especially when he gives advice to Roger (Walken) of how he should be more of a man when taking care of his wife. But overall, it’s just interesting to see how these men become attached so much to these beloved items and will do what it takes to keep them home and not have their own personal lives disrupted.
And as these three men are quite interesting to watch, Marcia Gay Harden is absolutely fabulous as the wife who just works her butt off for a vacation with her husband that seems to be long overdue. She’s a talker but it seems this vacation is all that keeps her going in her marriage and she plays a great job as a wife who is determined to go on this trip.
Although a predictable, straightforward film, “The Maiden Heist” doesn’t need to be a “Mission Impossible” or highly technological style of film. It’s all about the performances of the four talents and they all make this film happen. It’s unfortunate that the film never received a theatrical release due to the distributor’s bankruptcy but it’s a fun, lighthearted comedy that is worth giving a try.
Overall, “The Maiden Heist” is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film’s all-star cast.   All four Academy Award winners – Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!