Cash Out (2024)

2 Stars (out of 4)

Blank Account

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Director Ives's low-key bank heist movie Cash Out has a few appealing qualities, but they are unfortunately outweighed by far more numerous unappealing qualities, such as confusion, bewilderment, and boredom.

Experienced thief Mason Goddard (John Travolta) has planned to steal a priceless car from a wealthy collector. He and his crew, including romantic partner Amelia (Kristin Davis) and brother Shawn (Lukas Haas), as well as Anton (Quavo), Link (Natali Yura), and Hector (Noel Gugliemi), pull off the job, but discover that they have been betrayed.

Months later, Mason is wallowing in his despair and wishes to be left alone, but Shawn comes with him with a new plan: to rob a special safe deposit box. Mason refuses, but when Shawn goes ahead with the plan without him, he rushes to the scene to try and prevent things from going south. Of course, that's exactly what happens: the safe deposit box turns out to be a dummy, and the police and the FBI arrive on the scene earlier than expected. It's going to take all of Mason's expertise to get out of this mess.

In Cash Out, Travolta shows that he's still a charismatic performer, adding several small touches to Mason that makes him feel rounded out, even if he's underwritten. There's some clever, swoopy camerawork that provides punch to a few scenes. And, during the bank heist, most characters seem aware of all the various tropes of the genre, and do their best to work around them. (The bank manager, played by Swen Temmel, explains that he's been through three or four other robberies.)

Unfortunately, there are also the old chestnuts, like the convenient "hacker" character, Link, who can solve most any problem by clacking on her keyboard and speaking into a com link. Another character manages to break through several brick walls with a tiny hammer and a bullet wound in his shoulder. And Shawn is a little too on-the-noise as the "screw-up" character, at one point setting his gun down and letting his attention drift from his hostage.

But the biggest problem is the romantic relationship between Mason and Kristin Davis's Amelia; it's difficult to describe without giving away one of the movie's major plot twists, but their dynamic never makes any sense. Neither do they have much chemistry. Cash Out certainly had good intentions, and it's not a total failure, but it also doesn't quite fit the bill.