NBC's Heist doesn't live up to the hype. With two boring leads,the back-up team is forced to take over.
Heist
The premise for the new NBC show Heist both intrigued and annoyed me. For the most part, it looked like the spawn of The Wire and Out of Sight which in theory should be good, but judging from the derivative promos, was most likely bad. Nevertheless, the show was stalking me (three times in one week!), and I found myself watching the pilot episode by default. Although my attention wandered during that first episode, the second one held slightly more promise, despite two leads lacking any charisma.
The story focuses on professional thief Mickey O'Neill (Dougray Scott) who gathers a group of criminals ("the best of the best" - is there any other kind?) to perform a series of robberies leading up to the final heist the day of the Academy Awards. Of course, Mickey can't be entirely bad - he is our main character after all - so he is given a back story explaining his need for revenge. Meanwhile, Amy Sykes (Michele Hicks) is the kleptomaniac (!?!) lead detective for the LAPD's robbery/homicide division, and her mission is to find the thieves behind these crimes.The twist: Mickey and Amy meet cute and fall for each other.Awwwww. This could have been a good idea, it certainly worked in Out of Sight, but Scott and Sykes are no Clooney and JLo. There is no chemistry between the actors, who also don't seem to understand the humor in the writing; thus the whole set up feels silly and contrived.
Heist is produced by director Doug Liman (Mr.& Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity), and Emmy- award nominated writers Mark and Robb Cullen (FX's Lucky) and the expected action scenes and snappy dialogue are all in place. What's missing is any genuine sense of heart and personality. There is some hope, however, in the supporting staff. These folks aren't the best of the best for nothing. Marika Dominczwk is the stand out, breathing life into the tough as nails Lola. She understands the writing, as does David Walton who plays the slightly nuts but still sexy, Ricky. Also joining this team is the always wonderful Seymour Cassel as elder statesman Pops. These three have the chemistry that it so lacking in the leads. They understand where the funny is and aren't afraid to go there; this show should have been based around them. Oh yeah, and Steve Harris plays James Johnson, Mickey's go-to guy. I almost forgot about him, and that's no surprise, since his only reason for being seems to be "tough guy." Snooze.
This entire show is a bit of a snooze, broken up with some interesting action scenes and snappy banter among the supporting team. If the leads could muster up some charisma and chemistry there could be some hope for Heist. NBC certainly think so judging from the way the show is heisting their primetime schedule.
