A couple of recent releases give a shout out to the 1970s:
THE MASTERMIND (B) - Master storyteller Kelly Reichardt turns in a serviceable but disappointing drama as she winds the clock back to 1970 for another laconic character study. She is saddled here with Josh O'Connor, who doesn't bring much to the role of a slacker who helms a motley crew of petty criminals to knock off a local art museum.
It has been about a decade since Reichardt's masterpiece, "Certain Women," and about 15 years since her pristine period piece, a pioneer-era western, "Meek's Cutoff." Her last outing, 2023's "Showing Up," was "as slow and uneventful as a movie can be," and "The Mastermind" might deepen the ruts forming under her wagon wheels. She has always been a patient filmmaker who composes in a minor key, but she needs a tad more inspiration to keep her latest one pumping.
O'Connor's James Blaine Mooney has parents with money, and his mother (Hope Davis) thinks she is writing checks to further his architectural career, which has actually stalled. Instead, he uses the money to promise payoffs to his bungling gang, and they pull off a half-assed heist. The robbery isn't the hard part though; it's the stashing and fencing of the loot that becomes the sticky wicket.
It is not like Reichardt to have so much trouble pulling together and maintaining a compelling narrative. She wastes Alana Haim ("Licorice Pizza") in the role of James' doting wife. The movie lights up in the final reel when James visits old friends who are part of the Vietnam War resisters' underground, and a pair of heavyweights jolt the movie back to life, briefly. Gaby Hoffman and John Magaro mold complicated characters in a matter of about 10 minutes, serving only to remind us that the rest of the cast cannot do the same across the 110-minute running time.
Most egregiously, though, Reichardt scores the buildup to the caper and the heist itself to loud, skronking, jittery jazz music. It is relentless, sometimes drowning out dialogue. As a dramatic device, it is too derivative to be effective. "Rififi" this ain't. (Composer Rob Mazurek, in his first film, must share the blame.) This one is an interesting exercise but not an entirely successful one.
INSPECTOR IKE (2020) (B) - Sometimes a cheesy idea and a script full of silly bits is all you need. Here a talented cast of well-trained comedians send up the "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie," which once blessed us with the likes of "Columbo," "McCloud" and "McMillan & Wife."
Ikechukwu Ufomadu co-wrote the script with director Graham Mason and stars in the title role, an unflappable old-school detective who also likes to share a food recipe during each episode of this faux show. (He also has a hacky signature move at the climax of each case -- presenting a set of handcuffs to the ultimate perpetrator in creative ways.) In this "episode," we know who the killer is from the start; it's just a matter of the watching the bumbling culprit -- an understudy knocking off the lead in a male version of "Annie" called "Mannie" -- tighten his own noose.
The humor owes a debt to "Police Squad," which spoofed the genre in 1982 (and led to the "Naked Gun" movies). The sight gags are easier to pull off if you are pretending it's the low-fi early '70s and your only competition in the satire field are the skits on "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour." The decade and its shlocky shows are easy targets, and the crew is given a wide berth to commit broad slapstick.
This borrows funny folks (and a sense of humor) from the worlds of the TV shows "Search Party," "Los Espookys" and "Fantasmas," including Ana Fabrega as a doltish police officer; John Early as the victim; Aparna Nancherla as a leader of the troupe; and Matt Barats as Harry, the goofball murderer. They all revolve around Ufomadu's deadpan zen master, and their loose-limbed sketch-comedy skills make for low-key fun.
BONUS TRACK
Let's do a ranking of Kelly Reichardt's films from most to least favorite:
1. Certain Women (2016)
2. Old Joy (2006)
3. Meek's Cutoff (2011)
4. Wendy & Lucy (2008)
5. First Cow (2020)
6. River of Grass (1995)
7. Night Moves (2014)
8. The Mastermind (2025)
9. Showing Up (2023)
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