Masterminds (2016 film)

Last updated

Masterminds
Masterminds (2016 film).png
Theatrical release poster with the film’s original release month
Directed by Jared Hess
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Erik Wilson
Edited by
Music by Geoff Zanelli
Production
company
Michaels-Goldwyn
Distributed by Relativity Studios
Release dates
  • September 26, 2016 (2016-09-26)(TCL Chinese Theatre)
  • September 30, 2016 (2016-09-30)(United States)
Running time
94 minutes [1]
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million [2]
Box office$29.7 million [3] [4]

Masterminds is a 2016 American crime comedy film based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey, it stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Jason Sudeikis.

Contents

It premiered in Los Angeles on September 26, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 30, 2016, by Relativity EuropaCorp Distribution and Relativity Media. It received mixed reviews and grossed $30 million.

Plot

In March 1997, Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis. They also involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt.

After some awkward training in preparation for the robbery, the team has David go inside Loomis' vault and load the entire money supply into the company's van. Before he leaves, he takes out three CCTV tapes, but misses one. The next day, he flees to Mexico with $20,000 and takes the cover name "Michael McKinney", the name of a friend of Steve's. Meanwhile, Steve takes most of the heist, around $17 million.

FBI Special Agent Scanlon and her partner identify David as the prime suspect, but have no idea of Steve's involvement. Steve plans to tell the FBI where David is, but Kelly thinks it would be wrong to abandon him.

In Mexico, David narrowly evades three Interpol agents looking for him, and calls Kelly about what happened. He inadvertently learns Steve's name from the ID in a wallet Kelly gave him. With his cover blown, Steve hires his hitman friend Michael McKinney to hunt David down. Michael finds David and attempts to shoot him, but the gun backfires and David escapes.

David phones Kelly and learns that Steve is trying to kill him. David is then knocked unconscious by McKinney. When he regains consciousness, McKinney is about to kill him but reconsiders upon looking at "McKinney"'s birth certificate, thinking that David was born with the same name, in the same place, on the same day; they become friends.

David calls Steve, threatening to surrender himself to Interpol if he does not wire $6 million into his bank account within two days. Kelly, while shopping in preparation to meet David in Mexico, is then attacked by Jandice, who has learned of her involvement with David. Kelly escapes, but Steve's two friends kidnap her, and he tells David to get a ticket to South America in exchange for her release.

At the airport, David meets McKinney, who is returning to the U.S. for his next hit. He sees Kelly's name written on McKinney's hand and realizes she is his next victim. When he tells McKinney she is his girlfriend, McKinney says he can't possibly kill her, and they switch tickets so David can rescue her. At that moment the three Interpol agents attempt to start to arrest them, but in their enthusiasm, David and McKinney overpower them.

Steve is hosting a party at his lavishly tacky mansion. The FBI, attempting to record Steve's confession, put a wire on one of his neighbor guests. David sneaks into the party and rescues Kelly. They escape by stealing Steve's BMW but it crashes as they attempt to drive through the gate. Steve catches and assaults David, but David realizes they are next to a disguised FBI van with agents listening inside, and tricks Steve into admitting he masterminded the robbery.

David is sentenced to seven years in prison, while Steve serves eleven years. About $2 million is still unaccounted for. When David is released, McKinney meets him at the prison and they drive to visit Kelly.

Cast

Production

On February 1, 2013, Jim Carrey joined the cast. [9] On June 10, 2013, Owen Wilson joined the cast. [10] On December 3, 2013, Zach Galifianakis joined the cast when Carrey dropped out. [11] On May 16, 2014, Kristen Wiig joined the cast, [5] and on June 25, 2014, Jason Sudeikis was added. [6] On June 30, 2014, Ken Marino, Kate McKinnon, Devin Ratray, Leslie Jones, Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Ross Kimball joined the cast. [7] On July 10, Jon Daly joined the cast to play an FBI agent. [8] The film was produced by Brent Almond. David Ghantt was a technical consultant, but due to outstanding court-ordered restitution for his part in the heist, he was not paid. [12]

Filming

The title used in media coverage was Untitled Armored Car. [13] Principal photography began on July 7, 2014, in Old Fort and Swannanoa, in the Asheville area of North Carolina. [14] [15]

On July 29, Galifianakis was spotted in a prisoner's costume during filming in a redressed street in downtown Asheville. [16] The BB&T Center building, also the location of the production office, was transformed into the "Park Street Citizens Bank", with a Loomis Fargo burgundy truck parked outside. Scenes were also filmed on the steps of Buncombe County Courthouse, inside the Buncombe County Jail, and in front of the Mediterranean Restaurant. [13] [16]

Release

The film was released in the United States on September 30, 2016. [17] It was previously scheduled for release on August 14, 2015, August 7, 2015, and August 19, 2015, a date which, in July 2015, Relativity rescheduled to October 9, 2015. [18] The company pushed back the date because it was facing a financial crisis. [19] The film was pulled from the October 9, 2015 release date [20] before being released on September 30, 2016. [21] [17]

Masterminds was projected to gross $10 million from 3,042 theaters in its opening weekend. [22] It made $2,325,546 on its first day and grossed $6,541,205 on its opening weekend, finishing 6th at the box office. [23]

It went on to gross $29,674,699 worldwide against a $25 million production budget. [2] Additional prints and advertising costs were estimated in excess of $20 million. [2] [24]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 34% based on reviews from 99 critics, with an average rating of 4.63/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Mastermind's great cast and stranger-than-fiction true story are largely wasted on a scattershot comedy with a handful of funny moments and far too much wackiness." [25] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [27]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, mainly criticizing its lack of good jokes: "The laughs evaporate almost as soon as they land, and some (make that most) of them don't land at all.... Masterminds owes us our two hours back." [28] On the other hand, Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, stating that "If smart dumb comedies hold a place in your heart, you'll like 'Masterminds.'" Although he acknowledged the film's weakness in its length, structure, and pacing, he emphasized that "Most of the time in these kinds of films the notes of sweetness, naivete and regret feel forced.... Here, though, you believe the sweetness, because Hess and his cast sell it with poker faces." [29] Richard Brody of The New Yorker also gave praise to the film, writing that "Yes, the comedy is funny—even when it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, it’s sparklingly inventive and charmingly loopy—but, above all, it has the religious intensity and spiritual resonance that marks all of Hess’s other films, and it extends his world of ideas into wild new realms, extends his vision into darker corners of existence than he had formerly contemplated." He also observed the filmmaking of Hess as "suggest[ing] a kinship with the transcendental cinema of Robert Bresson and Carl Theodor Dreyer.... his images belong to a similar realm of astonishment, even if his are frankly comedic where theirs are irreconcilably tragic." [30]

The film was a finalist for an AML Award in film. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zach Galifianakis</span> American comedian and actor (born 1969)

Zachary Knight Galifianakis is an American comedian and actor. In film, Galifianakis played Alan in The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013). He hosted the Funny or Die talk show Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis (2008–2018). On television, he starred in the FX series Baskets (2016–2019), which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jared and Jerusha Hess</span> American filmmakers

Jared Lawrence Hess and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009), all of which they co-wrote and which were directed by Jared. For their film Ninety-Five Senses, they have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live sketches, organized alphabetically by title. The referenced date is the date when the sketch first appeared.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Sudeikis</span> American actor and comedian (born 1975)

Daniel Jason Sudeikis is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago, and The Second City. In 2003, Sudeikis was hired as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, and later spent nine seasons as a cast member from 2005 to 2013, playing Joe Biden and Mitt Romney, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristen Wiig</span> American actress and comedian (born 1973)

Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Wiig achieved nationwide stardom during her seven-season tenure on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012.

$17.3 million in cash was robbed from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997. The robbery was committed by Loomis vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt, his married girlfriend Kelly Campbell, Steven Eugene Chambers, his wife Michelle Chambers, Michael Gobbies, and four other co-conspirators. An FBI criminal investigation ultimately resulted in the arrest and conviction of eight people directly involved in the heist, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them, and the recovery of approximately 88% of the stolen money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funny or Die</span> Comedy website/film/TV production company

Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staff of in-house writers, producers and directors, and occasionally from a number of famous contributors including Judd Apatow, James Franco and Norm Macdonald. The associated production company continues to make TV shows including truTV's Billy on the Street, Comedy Central's @midnight and Zach Galifianakis' web series Between Two Ferns.

Annie Mumolo is an American actress, screenwriter, comedian, and producer, best known for co-writing the 2011 film Bridesmaids with Kristen Wiig, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. She and Wiig also co-wrote the screenplay and played leading roles for the 2021 comedy film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She has also appeared in films such as This Is 40 (2012), Afternoon Delight (2013), The Boss (2016), Bad Moms (2016), Queenpins (2020), and Confess, Fletch (2022).

Funny or Die Presents is a half-hour sketch comedy show that spawned from the comedy website Funny or Die, created by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. It premiered on HBO on February 19, 2010.

<i>Bridesmaids</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Paul Feig

Bridesmaids is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Paul Feig, written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, and produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, and Clayton Townsend. The story centers on Annie, who suffers a series of misfortunes after being asked to serve as maid of honor for her best friend Lillian. The film also stars Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, and Chris O'Dowd.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> (season 38) 38th season of the show

The thirty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 15, 2012, and May 18, 2013.

Rachel Lee Goldenberg is an American film director and screenwriter. She has directed a number of feature films and television episodes. She had her breakthrough after she was discovered by Will Ferrell, who gave her the opportunity to direct the Lifetime television film A Deadly Adoption, in which he starred.

<i>Welcome to Me</i> 2014 American film

Welcome to Me is a 2014 American comedy-drama film directed by Shira Piven and written by Eliot Laurence. The film stars Kristen Wiig as Alice Klieg, a lottery winner with borderline personality disorder who uses her newfound wealth to write and star in her own syndicated talk show. The cast includes James Marsden, Linda Cardellini and Wes Bentley. The film was released on May 1, 2015 in a limited release, receiving generally positive reviews from critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riza Aziz</span> Malaysian film producer

Riza Shahriz bin Abdul Aziz, better known as Riza Aziz, is a Malaysian film producer and the co-founder of Red Granite Pictures, a Los Angeles–based film production company.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> 40th Anniversary Special Episode of the 40th season of Saturday Night Live

"Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special" is a three-and-a-half-hour prime-time special that aired on February 15, 2015, on NBC, celebrating Saturday Night Live's 40th year on the air, having premiered on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. It is produced by Broadway Video. This special generated 23.1 million viewers, becoming NBC's most-watched prime-time, non-sports, entertainment telecast since the Friends series finale in 2004. It is the third such anniversary special to be broadcast, with celebratory episodes also held during the 15th and 25th seasons.

<i>Keeping Up with the Joneses</i> (film) 2016 film by Greg Mottola

Keeping Up with the Joneses is a 2016 American action comedy film directed by Greg Mottola and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was written by Michael LeSieur. Its story follows a suburban couple who begin to suspect their new neighbors are secret agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Martinez (actor)</span> American actor

Adrian Martinez is an American actor and comedian, known for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Focus. He also worked in the theatre. He is also known for his role as the "Discount Double Check" guy in a series of State Farm commercials starring Aaron Rodgers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zillionaire</span> 2016 single by Flo Rida

"Zillionaire" is a song by American rapper Flo Rida, released on July 29, 2016, in the United States. Remixes followed September 16, 2016.

Brent Almond is an American film producer. He has recently been nominated for a Grammy for best Music Film for I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.

References

  1. ↑ "MASTERMINDS (12A)". British Board of Film Classification . August 3, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Doty, Meriah (October 3, 2016). "Was 'Masterminds' the Last Straw for Relativity?". TheWrap . Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Masterminds (2016) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  4. ↑ "Masterminds". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Kristen Wiig Joins Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson in Relativity Comedy (Exclusive)". Hollywoodreporter.com. May 16, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Fleming, Mike (June 25, 2014). "Jason Sudeikis To Play Hit Man In Jared Hess Heist Comedy". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yamato, Jen (June 30, 2014). "Ken Marino, 'SNL's Kate McKinnon, More Join Jared Hess Heist Comedy". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Sneider, Jeff (July 10, 2014). "Jon Daly Joins Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig in Armored Car Heist Comedy". thewrap.com. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  9. ↑ Fleming, Mike (February 1, 2013). "Jim Carrey Joins 'Napoleon Dynamite' Helmer For 'Loomis Fargo'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Owen Wilson Joins Jim Carrey in the Formerly-Titled Loomis Fargo". ComingSoon.net. June 10, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Zach Galifianakis in Final Negotiations to Join Owen Wilson in Relativity Heist Comedy (Exclusive)". TheWrap. December 2, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  12. ↑ Wyatt Redd (September 2, 2018; updated February 7, 2019) David Ghantt And The Loomis Fargo Heist: The Outrageous True Story. Allthatsinteresting.com, accessed 04 Jan 2020
  13. 1 2 Motsinger, Carol (July 30, 2014). "Galifianakis movie will extend filming in Asheville". citizen-times.com. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ Motsinger, Carol (July 8, 2014). "First look at Asheville area Galifianakis movie set". citizen-times.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  15. ↑ Toppman, Lawrence (July 9, 2014). "'Loomis Fargo' shooting in North Carolina this summer". charlotteobserver.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  16. 1 2 Motsinger, Carol (July 29, 2014). "Comedy filming already transforming downtown Asheville". citizen-times.com. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  17. 1 2 Detroit Free Press, 'Masterminds' turns real crime into goofy fun, by Katie Walsh, page 2C, 29 September 2016
  18. ↑ Rainey, James (July 7, 2015). "'Masterminds' Pushed to October by Struggling Relativity Studios". variety.com. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  19. ↑ Lang, Brent (July 20, 2015). "Relativity Moving Release of 'Kidnap' With Halle Berry (EXCLUSIVE)". variety.com. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  20. ↑ Matt Donnelly (August 10, 2015). "Kristen Wiig-Zach Galifianakis Comedy 'Masterminds' Yanked by Relativity".
  21. ↑ Pederson, Erik (December 4, 2015). "Relativity Dates Five Films For 2016 Including 'Kidnap' & 'Masterminds'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  22. ↑ "'Miss Peregrine' To Punish Competition At Weekend Box Office – Preview". Deadline Hollywood . September 28, 2016.
  23. ↑ "'Miss Peregrine' Enrolls Moviegoers On Thursday Night – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  24. ↑ "'Deepwater Horizon' Again Leads Studios' TV Ad Spending". September 26, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Masterminds (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  26. ↑ "Masterminds reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  27. ↑ "CinemaScore". Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  28. ↑ Travers, Peters (September 30, 2016). "'Masterminds' Review: No Amount of 'SNL' Alumnae Can Save This Mess". Rolling Stone . Retrieved October 4, 2016.
  29. ↑ Seitz, Matt Zoller (September 30, 2016). "Masterminds". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
  30. ↑ Brody, Richard (September 29, 2016). "Jared Hess's Spiritual Gross-Out Comedy, in "Masterminds"". The New Yorker . Condé Nast . Retrieved October 4, 2016.
  31. ↑ "2016 AML Awards - Dawning of a Brighter Day". Associationmormonletters.org. April 23, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.