Dad Movie 101

Matt Zoller Seitz for rogerebert.com gave Crime 101 3.5/4, calling it "a special movie." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a 4/5 and said that it's "a movie that revs the engine entertainingly and loudly." Owen Gleiberman for Variety said that the film is "clever and compelling in unusual ways." And Frank Scheck for The Hollywood Reporter said the new film is "lavishly crafted."

Matt Zoller Seitz is a 57-year-old man. Peter Bradshaw is 63. Owen Gleiberman, 67. I can't find how old Frank Scheck is, but he looks about the same age as the other three.

That is to say, they're all about the same age as my dad. That is to say, they're all the exact audience for this new film from director Bart Layton (age 50).

Crime 101 has done the impossible and perfected the dad movie. That is not a diss. It's high praise.

Dads, for all their virtues and vices, are a fickle crowd for movies — especially new movies. High concepts are not their bread and butter, nor are movies that are capital "I" Important. They're simple creatures: They want good stories, good action and some actors that they recognize. These days, that formula is hard to come by.

I went to Crime 101 by myself. I may not be this movie's target audience, but I am target-audience adjacent. My current age bracket has me holding unc status. So, yeah, my pistons move for a good crime-caper thriller. Like Seitz, Bradshaw, Gleiberman and Scheck, I was impressed by this film. My top takeaway: "My dad would fucking love this."

"But, Lucas," my wise reader asks, "what makes a movie a dad movie?"

I think there are two keys that will tell you if a dad movie is a success. Maybe you've seen the meme. You start a movie alone in the living room. Dad enters and scans what you're watching, but quickly leaves to continue his Sunday chores. A few minutes later, he returns and this time stops and watches a scene. Suddenly, he's not in the kitchen anymore but standing in the living room. Finally, he's in his chair, meaning that the movie has won and dad is now watching. The test does not end there. The final step: Will dad fall asleep? If the answer is yes, then the movie is not good enough. A good dad movie must not only keep dad's attention but also must keep him awake.

How this is done is through a number of factors.

It's gotta be "smart"

I put smart in quotations because it's the type of smart that is smart while watching, but then you walk out of the theatre and think, "that wasn't that smart."

Crime 101 is that.

Take the scene where Lou explains the pattern of his mystery criminal to his boss, Captain Stewart. Lou sounds smart, but the boss has other things to worry about. Captain Stewart makes it about the bottom line, saying that clearances are all that matter. This is cop talk of the highest form, and anyone who has watched The Wire knows how important clearance rates are. This kind of snappy dialogue makes the audience feel like they're seeing into what really goes on in a police station. It's not just good guys and bad guys — it's pencil pushing and meeting quotas. We're getting a glimpse behind the curtain. It's "smart," even if it's not really.

It's gotta be familiar

Familiar does not mean cliché. However, dads aren't looking for a movie that changes the game. Rather, the film must fit somewhere into their wheelhouse. It needs to be the type of film that will make your dad look you dead in the face and say, "this is like that one movie with that guy." He'll expect you to know what he's talking about.

Crime 101 is familiar, in a good way. It has a 90s/2000s thriller vibe. Some people are comparing it to Heat. It actually reminded me quite a bit, stylistically, of Miami Vice. Either way, if you've seen either of those movies, you get the vibe. Cool blues. Motion blur. Sexy city landscapes.

The film takes it a step further by incorporating some noir vibes. I think the Los Angeles setting helps that. The film's noir-isms are not super obvious. It's not like they have Venetian-blind shadows across the characters. It's an essence that noir fans, like myself, will feel, but it's not a direct homage to any certain film. It's not like the protagonist gets his nose cut. You'll feel the noir vibe in the film's locale, plot and mood.

There's more obtuse references to classic chase movies. I'm talking The French Connection, The Thomas Crown Affair and Bullitt. Steve McQueen's ghost can be felt in Crime 101. I mean, our main character, Mike aka James, drives around in basically the same car as the famous one in Bullitt. The Thomas Crown Affair is name dropped and discussed at least once.

So, it feels familiar, but it's not just a rip-off. It borrows from many different classics from different eras, but it still stands on its own.

It's gotta be a little fresh

This is where most movies run a risk of losing their dad audience. They need to be familiar but still feel new. Sometimes that new element is horrible. Not in this case.

Crime 101 keeps things relevant through its mental-health theme. Each of the main characters are on their own journey toward enlightenment. This was a thin line to walk for Layton, if he wanted to keep his dad audience awake, but he walks it masterfully. First, he picked the right theme. I think dads around the world agree that mental health is important and that it's a topic that they wish was more emphasized when they were kids. Second, Layton provides such a well-rounded approach to the topic that it doesn't feel like it's giving a sermon. Lou starts yoga. Mike aka James is totally dialed in... He has to be for his work. Sharon uses ASMR podcasts to cool her inner turmoil. Meanwhile, Ormon isn't worried about that stuff, and it shows in his wild, unpredictable and violent actions.

It's gotta have paper-thin female characters

This may sound like a negative, and it is and it isn't. There are two main women in Crime 101: Sharon and Maya. Sharon is somewhat integral to the plot: she becomes Mike aka James's accomplice in his big final heist. Maya is Mike aka James's girlfriend. Maya does not exist for herself. She is only there to show how emotionally damaged Mike aka James is. This leaves her as a pretty static character. Sharon, meanwhile, has some more meat in her role, but she still takes a back seat to Mike aka James and Lou.

Sharon gets her moment where she gets to tell off her boss and it feels like the woman-empowerment moment of the movie. If you have to have a woman-empowerment moment, then your movie probably isn't about woman empowerment. The scene felt wedged in. It's not necessarily bad, but it doesn't really advance the story very much. Erin Brockovich this is not. We aren't coming to Crime 101 to talk about the gender pay gap. This scene was the one time where it felt like the movie was doing too much. Luckily, its heart is in the right place, so, even if it's not great, it's not offensive.

These factors, along with some good-old-fashion action and top-tier car chases, make Crime 101 the perfect movie to watch with your old man... Or any middle-aged man in your life. It's much more than a shoot-em-up crime thriller. It has a great story, with tension that kept me on the edge of my seat. If Awards Season has exhausted you with its films about race, grief, capitalism and other important but difficult topics, Crime 101 is the antidote. 

Watch it with your dad. 

If he falls asleep, I owe you an ice cream.

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