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List Price: $16.97 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 2160
Released: November 24, 2009 |
| Our Price: $7.75 |
| Used Price: $4.79 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Their plan wasn't exactly a work of art. It was a stroke of genius. But now the perfect crime is turning into a perfect disaster in this madcap comedy featuring Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden and Academy Award nominee William H. Macy. Charles, Roger and George are the very picture of honest security guards. But when they learn their favorite artworks are being sent to another museum, they concoct a plan to switch the real masterpieces with fakes. All goes well until a mistake forces these first-time thieves into a last-minute escapade in the comedy caper that proves you're never too old to have some new fun.
Description of The Maiden Heist:
Any movie starring Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy, and Marcia Gay Harden carries with it the expectation of good things, and The Maiden Heist does not disappoint. Roger (Walken), Charlie (Freeman), and George (Macy) are all guards at a Boston art museum. Each has one piece to which he is virtually addicted; Roger waxes rhapsodic about a (fictional) 19th-century post-naturalist painting called "The Lovely Maiden," referring to the subject's "desperate longing and overwhelming passion," while Charlie loves another painting and night guard George likes to strip off his clothes and pose like his favorite statue after hours. When the three learn that the insufferable young curator plans to sell the three works (and others) to a Danish museum, replacing them with depictions of animal genitalia and similar atrocities, they are inconsolable. They consider moving to Denmark, which doesn't sit too well with Roger's wife (Harden), who has her heart set on a vacation trip to sunny Florida. But George, a tightly wound former Marine (he took part in Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada), has an alternative plan: arrange to have replicas of the pieces made, and then replace the real ones with the fakes during the move. It doesn't take Nostradamus to predict that complications will ensue. The heist itself is poorly planned, to say the least, and quickly turns into a fiasco; but these are likable characters (as the tag line says, "They're not bad guys--just bad thieves"), and, well, everything will probably turn out OK. Directed by Peter Hewitt, The Maiden Heist is unlikely to pose a threat to Citizen Kane as one of the great moments in cinematic history, but it has a light touch, a great cast, and plenty of charm. Bonus material includes a "making of" featurette and audio commentary. --Sam Graham
The Maiden Heist Reviews:
I Laughed Hard! 
2009-12-10 - Some of these reviews seem a bit harsh for this enjoyable and endearing film. Let me share what I liked most about it. Christopher Walken.
He stares at a painting entitled "The Lonely Maiden", and has fallen deeply in love with it over the years, while his very attentive and loving wife (Harden) waits patiently for him to come back around to her. She does not know about his love affair with the painting, and she comes off as kind and doting. SHE is the lonely maiden. I figured that out early. Walken is entranced with the painting, when all the while the true lonely maiden was right in front of him. Of course, he loves his wife and is attached to her forever (you can tell that they have an old-fashioned and sadly-gone view of marriage--stick it out to the end no matter what). And as he plans the heist with his fellow security guards, he keeps his wife's needs in mind the whole time. There is also a very sweet happy ending for these two (Shhhh).
Macy's character is married but we only know that because he said so. Macy's character is an odd one. He has some dubious military training and takes leadership in the heist. And he likes to get naked in front of a nude male statue... nothing more. Really. Just strip down and pose in front of it.
Freeman's character likes cats (and obviously has no wife). Any man who likes cats is okay in my book!
This heist movie is fun and friendly; we enjoyed rollicking around town with these three old guys.
BOTTOM LINE: if you like grumpy-old-men, this is like not-so-grumpy old men. They make you laugh and wince, and you may still be smiling when you're done. There are also some hilarious bloopers in the special features. SWEET!
Enjoy the movie!
Ellen C Maze, author Rabbit: Chasing Beth Rider
Waste of talent 
2009-11-29 - One of those movies that bring an occasional smile, but never any laughs to the viewer. Skip it.
Witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film's all-star cast 
2009-11-24 - Back in May 2009, I was awaiting the film "The Maiden Heist" which featured an all-star cast featuring Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman ("Unforgiven", "Driving Miss Daisy", "Million Dollar Baby"), Christopher Walken ("The Deer Hunter", "Pulp Fiction", "Wayne's World 2), William H. Macy ("Fargo", "Jurassic Park 3, "Seabiscuit") and Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock", "Damages", "Mystic River").
The film was directed by Peter Hewitt ("Garfield", "Zoom"), a screenplay by Michael LeSieur ("You, Me and Dupree"), music by Rupert Gregson-Williams ("Bedtime Stories", "Made of Honor", "You Don't Mess with Zohan") and cinematography by Ueli Steiger ("10,000 BC", "Nomad", "The Day After Tomorrow").
All would seem good for an early summer release but then the film's distributor Yari Film Group (known for films such as "The Illusionist", "Kickin' It Old School", "The Accidental Husband") filed for bankruptcy and the film was shelved. The film did happen to debut at the Edinburgh International Film Festival but unfortunately, that was it. And now the film has its DVD release courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
"The Maiden Heist" starts off with Roger (Christopher Walken) who works in security for a major museum where the painting the "Lonely Maiden" is kept. Roger absolutely adores this painting. He dreams of himself defending the painting from thieves and he's literally in love with the painting and knows all the details about it. Meanwhile, back at home, his wife (played by Marcia Gay Harden) dreams about going to Miami and has been saving her money specifically for this trip.
Roger is not very talkative towards his wife. In fact, he goes home, puts on his beret, listens to French music and just reads about the "Lonely Maiden".
But life starts to become disrupted when he finds out that "The Lonely Maiden" and other artifacts from the museum are being shipped out overseas to Denmark. Roger is absolutely crushed. He then discovers that he is not the only one. Another security guard named Charles (played by Morgan Freeman) is also enamored with another painting in the museum and has been in love with it. So, in love to the point that he has painted the exact painting in his home. But similar to how Roger is with the "Lonely Maiden", Charles is with the painting that he enjoyed for so many years.
After meeting over lunch, Charles comes up with an idea..."why not steal the paintings" they love. But of course, Roger is quite dedicated to his job and tells Charles that they are security guards with a job to protect the paintings not steal them. But life then changes when Charles discovers another person in security who is enamored with a sculpture at the museum. Charles shows Roger surveillance captured of the other security guard named George (played by William H. Macy). George has some unusual fetish as a late night security guard and likes to strip off all his clothes in front of the sculpture (which is a naked man showing off his muscles) and do a similar pose.
Charles and Roger feel that with another man to help them, they can probably pull of another heist. After talking to George (who used to be part of the Marines), he absolutely is supportive of the idea. Why not create forgeries of the paintings and the sculpture and replace them before they are shipped to Denmark. Will the three be able to pull off the heist?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"The Maiden Heist" is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2:40:1) and for the most part, cinematography by Ueli Steiger is done quite well. Shot in Boston and also at the Worcester Art Museum, most of the film takes place in the museum but also at Roger and Charles apartment.Lighting is well-done and for the most part, all three men look great and despite being older men, the film gives the men a youthful spin as these guys must try to pull of the unthinkable. Picture quality for the most part is well done and good use of utilization of shots throughout the film but the film does look very good.
Audio-wise, the film is featured in English 5.1 Dolby Digital. The film is primarily dialogue driven and also jazzy music plays a part in the film as well. Thus it's more or less front and center channel driven. I didn't notice a whole lot of surround usage as this film is not exactly an action film. But for the most part, dialogue is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"The Maiden Heist" comes with the following special features:
* Director, Writer and Producer Commentary - Audio commentary by Director Pete Hewitt, Writer Michael LeSieur and Producer Rob Paris. An enjoyable and informative commentary providing insight to the characters and film-making details of the set location, production design and scenes.
* In the Presence of Art: Making The Maiden Heist Featurette - (17:40) Featuring the cast and crew talking about the film. The cast talk about their characters while the director talked about how this film had an awesome script but it was all about when the film would become a reality.
* Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary - Featuring optional commentary for 12 short deleted scenes which include: Roger and Charlie Meet, Too Much Gas, Over My Dead Body, A Few Words from the Curator, Donnie, The Lovely Mr. Needlebaum, A Few Words from George, It's Me They want, The Shirt, Waiting for Roger, The Avant Guard, More Donnie
* Bloopers Reel - (2:45) Bloopers from "The Maiden Heist"
* Previews - Trailers for upcoming Sony Pictures Home Entertainment films on Blu-ray and DVD.
JUDGMENT CALL:
After watching this film, I enjoyed the film and its witty sense of humor but also how clever the screenplay is. Director Peter Hewitt said that one of the things that came to his mind when working on this film are those security guards at a museum. Many are old and what keeps them going in such a job. And the film tries to showcase how these three security guards just fall in love with a certain item at the museum and are very protective of it. Granted, I don't any security guards at museums personally to know if this happens in real life but if it does, that would be quite interesting.
As mentioned, these three Academy Award winning men look absolutely full of youth. It was fun to see Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy so energetic. In fact, surprising enough, the PG-13 rating comes from William H. Macy's nude scenes. And these three play interesting characters. Although it's not in your face, Freeman plays a gay man, Walken plays a husband who doesn't really take notice of his wife because he's so in love with a painting and Macy's character, although he's pretty gung-ho and talks about the Marines, his hobby of taking off his clothes in front of a nude male statue is a bit odd. Especially when he gives advice to Roger (Walken) of how he should be more of a man when taking care of his wife. But overall, it's just interesting to see how these men become attached so much to these beloved items and will do what it takes to keep them home and not have their own personal lives disrupted.
And as these three men are quite interesting to watch, Marcia Gay Harden is absolutely fabulous as the wife who just works her butt off for a vacation with her husband that seems to be long overdue. She's a talker but it seems this vacation is all that keeps her going in her marriage and she plays a great job as a wife who is determined to go on this trip.
Although a predictable, straightforward film, "The Maiden Heist" doesn't need to be a "Mission Impossible" or highly technological style of film. It's all about the performances of the four talents and they all make this film happen. It's unfortunate that the film never received a theatrical release due to the distributor's bankruptcy but it's a fun, lighthearted comedy that is worth giving a try.
Overall, "The Maiden Heist" is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film's all-star cast. All four Academy Award winners - Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!
Boring and unengaging 
2009-11-23 - Wow, this was a slow, boring and totally un-engaging film. I could not find anything about this story to relate to, or connect with... at all. The plot is not very interesting. The humor is NOT very funny. I never laughed out loud once. The actors are great actors, but this film did not really show anything about their abilities. I felt like it was a thrown together movie, with a small budget that just gave these actors an opportunity to work together. Some speaking segments were cliche - I didn't know movies still had "Step on it!" in them. It's very clean however except for one blurry video image. The ending was better than expected, but I was not expecting much.
Glad some people enjoyed this film. I'm not trusting Amazon reviews anymore though. The reviews here were high, but my experience with the movie was low.
Fun, Quirky and Sweet
2009-11-17 - Quirky characters and a fun plot make this a movie a great escapist mini-adventure. I'm drawn to slightly off-kilter films and this one fits the bill. Three men, Macy, Walken and Freeman each have a passion for one particular painting or statue in the museum where they work. After years and years of emotional connectedness to their art they discover the pieces will be traveling to Denmark. When following the art, uprooting their lives to be with their paintings/statues, proves impossible, they plan the next best thing...grabbing their pieces and making them their own.
Almost slapstick at times, the film moves fairly briskly after the plan is hatched and the pieces begin to fall into place. Walken is deadpan and anxious and charmingly himself. Freeman plays an accomplished painter who has painted "his" painting many, many times but lacks the certain aura. His cats keep him company when he is not obsessing over his lovely painting. Macy plays a military man who may or may not have served anywhere even though his tales imply near-superhero skills.
Those who don't like slow-moving character pieces or artsy-quirky fun probably should skip it. Also, if you don't particularly want to see Macy's naked behind several times, well, this isn't the film for you. He poses. Often. Not creepy as much as it is just weird.
