Sharper Review

Plot: Unfolds within the secrets of New York City, from the penthouses of Fifth Avenue to the shadowy corners of Queens. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned upside down when nothing is as it seems.

Review: Con artists and thieves always make for intriguing movie plots. With a long legacy of such films to choose from, from classic noir to contemporary indies, filmmakers have to rely on solid casting and unique twists to try and entice audiences. The new film Sharper, starring a small cast of talented performers, almost delivers on both despite getting a bit too confident in a story that ends up being more familiar than the trailers suggest. But, thanks to five solid performances from the ensemble cast, Benjamin Caron’s twisty thriller is good enough to warrant some attention this weekend. After a brief theatrical run, Sharper will premiere on AppleTV+, giving it even more of an opportunity to be discovered by a larger audience.

Sharper, an antiquated term for a con artist, is an appropriate title for this movie. Channeling the old-school charm of thrillers from the 1970s and earlier, Sharper blends the classic elements of potboilers and noir thrillers with the non-linear style used to great effect in Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects. By breaking the story into chapters, all of which are presented out of sequence, this story keeps your attention to try and figure out what the endgame will be. The marketing also has helped to present the story so that when you begin watching the film, you may have already fallen for the biggest con of all. Trailers are notorious for giving away too much of the plot, but the trailer for Sharper may be the most effective misdirection for a major motion picture.

Without divulging any spoilers, Sharper is broken into chapters named after each main character. These segments showcase the entire cast and connect to the preceding and subsequent parts of the story, but the focus shifts each time to a different member of the cast. The story opens with Tom (Justice Smith), a bookstore owner and the son of the incredibly wealthy Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow). Tom falls for Sandra (Briana Middleton), who works as a con artist alongside Max (Sebastian Stan). Max also happens to be the son of Madeline (Julianne Moore), the new wife of Richard Hobbes. The true motivations of each character and the role they have to play in the story unfold as the movie progresses, leading to twists that change the dynamic of the story and what you think of each individual.

Without any nudity or significant action sequences, Sharper relies on these actors going toe to toe with one another in a dramatic fashion. Julianne Moore is excellent as always and shares some powerful scenes with Sebastian Stan and John Lithgow. Lithgow’s role is the smallest of the main cast, but the accomplished actor owns every scene he is in. Justice Smith finally gets a substantial role that does not require him to act opposite CGI co-stars, allowing him to stretch his dramatic talents in a way we have not seen him on film before. Sebastian Stan is good as the experienced con artist caught in multiple challenging relationships. This leads to great scenes with Julianne Moore as well as Briana Middleton. Middleton, the most unfamiliar member of the cast, is fantastic as the up-and-coming femme fatale who is the key to everything that happens. Middleton will generate a lot of buzz from this performance, and I expect to see more of her in the future.

The Black List screenplay by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka owes a debt to The Usual Suspects in keeping the audience guessing from each chapter to the next. Clocking in at just under two hours, Sharper manages to keep your attention for the entire running time by breaking the film into short stories. The shifting perspective gives us a different character to focus on as the rest of the cast weave in and out. Director Benjamin Caron, veteran television director of The Crown, Sherlock, and most recently, Star Wars series Andor, uses the New York City setting to great effect. From quaint shops and bars to penthouses and lofts, Caron structures each sequence like a chess match. Pairing characters against one another and giving them room to deliver back-and-forth dialogue makes this film feel more intimate than con movies like Focus or Out of Sight. The problem comes from the fact that despite the twists and turns meant to shock the audience, many of them I spotted from the outset.

Sharper boasts a great score from Clint Mansell and crisp cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen, but the performances sell this movie. While you will not learn about the twists from this review, some will be shocked when the credits roll. Having seen as many movies as I have, I guessed where this was going most of the time, but there were still some elements I did not get right. Regardless of what you think about the real story, Sharper works because of the caliber of the actors involved. Everyone here does an outstanding job and makes this a worthwhile watch that you will never be bored with for a second. Rich people misbehaving, and the less wealthy taking them down a notch is always fun to watch, and this is no exception. I enjoyed Sharper for the acting and structure, even if I knew what was coming early on.

Sharper

GOOD

7