Bobby Stevens is ready to get out of the crime business. So he puts together an all-star team of thieves -- a brilliant marksman, a mistress of disguise and false documents, an electronics wizard, etc. -- to pull off the proverbial final big jobs before he can retire and live a respectable life with wife Hope and their kids. Bobby and his team have talent, they have inside information and they have a great plan -- and, of course, very little goes according to that plan.
"Smith" producer John Wells isn't looking to get out of the TV business anytime soon, but he's assembled an all-star team of his own, with Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker and Amy Smart heading arguably the most impressive new ensemble in a season full of them.
But, like his new anti-hero, Wells hits several bumps along the way.
There are traditionally two ways you can go with the heist genre, exemplified by last spring's generically titled and short-lived "Heist" on NBC and "Thief" on FX. "Thief" went the lightweight "Ocean's 11" route and tried to have fun with the mechanics of the heist, the quirks of the criminals, and so on. "Thief" went all Michael Mann on us: brooding, visually stylish, and focused more on the crooks' psyches than the science of how to crack a safe.
"Smith" struggles to work both sides of that street, resulting in a schizophrenic pilot that's more interesting in parts than as a whole.
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