Film Review: Unfunny ‘Masterminds’ is a Complete Waste of Talent

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – Tick…tick…tick. That is the sound of your life frittering away, if you choose to experience the 94 minutes, that feels like two weeks, for “Masterminds.” The film that has virtually no laughs – in categorizing itself as a comedy – and is an almost criminal waste of some decent comic talent.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 1.0/5.0
Rating: 1.0/5.0

Here is what I’d rather see the cast do for 94 minutes than watch them in this film. With Zach Galifianakis, have him riff on how hard it is to spell his last name without looking. With Kristen Wiig, let’s do a lunch with her talking about women in comedy, followed by a mani-pedi. Owen Wilson and I would have a zen yoga session, followed by necessary career counseling. A filmed table read of the script – credited to three screenwriters – would have yielded at least ten more laughs than the film, that would be ten more than zero.

Based on a “true story,” Zach G. portrays David Ghantt, a schlub who works as an armored car driver. He is getting married to (what seems like) a mentally challenged woman named Jandice (Kate McKinnon), but has a crush on his new co-worker Kelly (Kristen Wiig). When Kelly is fired, she retreats back to a double wide trailer owned by Steve (Owen Wilson), and a plan is hatched to rob the armored car company of cash, using David as the insider.

Basically Kelly seduces David to do the job, and he completes the heist, based on the promise that she will join him in Mexico once the heat dies down. Wanting to keep the money and get rid of the middle man, Steve decides to send a wacky assassin (Jason Sudeikis) to kill David. All the while, the chief investigator for the FBI (Leslie Jones) cannot close in on the perpetrators of the crime.


”Masterminds” opens everywhere on September 30th. Featuring Zach Galifianakis, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Owen Wilson and Leslie Jones. Screenplay by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivy. Directed by Jared Hess. Rated “PG

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Masterminds”

Master1
Bang Bang Shoot Shoot: Zach Galifianakis and Kristen Wiig in ‘Masterminds’
Photo credit: Relativity Media

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Masterminds”

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