How to Rob a Bank review: social-media heist runs out of energy

By Grace Kim

How to Rob a Bank runs 2 hours 2 minutes; its R rating cites gun violence and bloodshed, and The Times chief film critic Manohla Dargis calls David Leitch’s film a “fitfully diverting mess.” It plays in theaters.

Dargis describes a tragedy that tries hard to pass itself off as comedy. Its Pittsburgh have-nots use showy flair and social-media skills to turn bank robbery into a wildly successful influencer hustle (building an audience by posting videos of their crimes online).

The crew’s methods invite comparison with Willie Sutton, the Brooklyn bank robber whose decades of crime in the first half of the 20th century made him a celebrity. Like Sutton, the Pittsburgh robbers wear creative disguises, keep their guns unloaded mostly, and invite dubious Robin Hood comparisons, Dargis notes.

Their enterprise starts as a social-media presence and a fast-growing viewership, assembled through videos posted on assorted platforms. Some demonstrate how to rob a bank; others celebrate the robberies.

Nicholas Hoult carries much of the performance as Ryan, the crew’s mouthpiece and apparent brains. His public identity is the Wolf, and he appears online only in a lupine mask that also serves as the crew’s trademark. Dargis says the masked Wolf promises deliverance and more.

The main engine is a cat-and-mouse chase (one side pursues while the other evades) between the gang and a small F.B.I. unit. Its lead, John West, is played by John C. Reilly and described by Dargis as exasperated. Although Reilly tends to elevate any production, Dargis says he never fits the button-down role; the film’s strained giddiness initially promises laughs that grow harder to find once Gardner arrives.

West recruits Reagan Gardner, a software engineer played by Zoë Kravitz, to help track Wolf and the gang. He finds her taking bong hits in a messy loft. Dargis compares that sprawling lair with the equally sprawling home of another shut-in with computer skills, also played by Kravitz, in Steven Soderbergh’s KIMI (2022).

What should moviegoers expect?

Moviegoers should expect an uneven mixture of action, comedy, crime, drama and thriller, as Dargis’s review suggests. The film’s brisk physical sequences and lightly amusing robber videos supply momentum, while its shift to the West-Gardner pursuit brings it to a near standstill.

Dargis calls the West-Gardner scenes unnecessary. Yet even as the second half begins to flatline, she finds it more interesting because the story signals that the crimes involve principles and politics, or at least gestures in that direction.

Mark Bianculli wrote the film, and Dargis says it works best when it stops trying so hard and lets the cast romp. Leitch, whom she identifies as best known for action films such as Deadpool 2, is most comfortable when the gang larks about, runs and gunns, flips bodies and squeals wheels. Dargis says the film gives him too little of that physical action, and its energy starts leaking away when the tone turns somber.

Pete Davidson plays Vince, a military veteran, while Rhenzy Feliz plays Hugo, the video editor whose work gives the gang’s posts snap. Anna Sawai plays Emi, Ryan’s girlfriend, in the limited helper role Dargis identifies as a stereotype. Ryan, Emi, Vince and Hugo have difficult backstories that shed only faint light on their crimes.

Dargis finds the robber videos lightly amusing, but says their visual pop, nasty charm and narrative coherence expose the rest of the film’s shortcomings. The filmmakers handle the histories in divergent ways.

At times, images carry the explanation, as when a gliding camera follows Hugo from one rundown building to the next. At others, Dargis says, the movie spills tears it has not earned.

Even as the second half begins to flatline, Dargis finds it more interesting. From the start, the story signals that the crimes involve principles and politics, or at least gestures in that direction.

The robbers harbor loftier ambitions for themselves, their families and the country, and their motives generate fiery rhetoric and riotous scenes of resistance. Dargis connects that material to fantasies of antifa and the shadow of Luigi Mangione, who admitted in 2024 that he shot and killed a UnitedHealthcare executive.

Dargis says none of it finally makes sense. The final irony in her review concerns the film’s provenance: it comes from a company founded by Jeff Bezos, whom Dargis describes as one of the wealthiest people on the planet. She ends the review by saying, “I’d love to read his review.”

As the film continues in theaters, its practical appeal rests on the physical action, social-media premise and lightly amusing videos. Its political argument and stalled middle remain the obstacles in Dargis’s verdict.