The Trust

Alex and Benjamin Brewer's moderately entertaining heist movie stars Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood as Stone and Waters, a pair of cops who work in the evidence room of the Las Vegas PD and win little respect from either their fellow officers or Stone's own father (Jerry Lewis, in a blink-and-you'll miss-him cameo). When the duo track the source of a large bail-bond payment to a nondescript convenience store, they discover that the place is home to a big underground vault, which they aim to break into on the assumption that it contains a fortune in cash. The plan involves taking over an apartment above the safe and burrowing down to the treasure below. Of course, things go awry well before last act twists that reveal all is not as it seems. The first half of The Trust is buoyed by Cage's characteristically off-kilter performance and some clever dialogue, and Wood is suitably dour as his sad-sack partner, but the film grows increasingly dark and serious, as well as somewhat tedious, as the miscreant cops face mounting odds. Still, the rapport between Cage and Wood is solid, and while nowhere near a classic noir, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)