An unemployed family man turned amateur art thief sets out on his first heist. With the museum cased and accomplices recruited, he has an airtight plan. Or so he thinks. A film by Kelly Reichardt, starring Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, Hope Davis, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Jasper Thompson, Sterling Thompson, Eli Gelb, Cole Doman, Javion Allen, Matthew Maher, Rhenzy Feliz, and Bill Camp.
THE MASTERMIND
Kelly Reichardt
(2025)
In 1970, unemployed carpenter James Blaine “JB” Mooney (Josh O’Connor) brings his wife Terri (Alana Haim) and their two children, Tommy (Jasper Thompson) and Carl (Sterling Thompson), to the Framingham Museum of Art in Massachusetts. JB has an ulterior motive. He’s been visiting regularly under the guise of being an art enthusiast, studying the museum’s routines and noting that the security guard tends to nod off in the afternoon.
When nobody’s looking, he opens a display case and lifts one of the carved wooden Indian figures. He tucks it into his leather sunglasses pouch, which he then drops into Terri’s handbag. They walk past the guard at the entrance without incident.
With one successful theft under his belt, JB keeps returning to the museum. Sometimes he doesn’t even go inside, just sits on a nearby bench with a newspaper, watching people come and go to figure out the best time to strike.
Inside, he tests the security. He drops his keychain on the floor to see if it’ll wake the dozing guard. It doesn’t. He lifts one of his target paintings slightly off the wall, checking behind the frame for sensors or alarms. There aren’t any.
During dinner at his parents’ house, JB’s father, Judge William “Bill” Mooney (Bill Camp), mentions running into Kipp’s father earlier that day. According to Kipp’s father, Kipp has projects all over town. William turns to JB and asks what Kipp knows that he doesn’t. After all, JB has all the same skills, yet he’s still unemployed. JB fires back that Kipp can’t even hang a window or build a decent cabinet. But William doesn’t care about that. To him, Kipp is a successful man, the boss of his own outfit, telling a whole team what to do. JB argues that Kipp spends all his time balancing books, scheduling jobs, and talking on the phone. An idiotic way to spend time, in his opinion.
Back at home, JB shows his hired thieves Guy Hickey (Eli Gelb) and Larry Duffy (Cole Doman) photos of four Arthur Dove paintings currently on display at the Framingham Museum of Art. He walks them through the plan. All four paintings are hanging in one small gallery on the second floor. They’ll have eight minutes total to enter the museum, pull the paintings off the wall, pack them into cases, and load everything into the waiting car. After that, they head to Denholm’s, dump the hot car, swap to a clean vehicle, and meet him back at the Echo.
Guy raises a concern about the plan. He can’t carry four paintings by himself since Larry’s behind the wheel of the getaway car. JB says Ronnie Gibson will be there to help. Larry questions how simple JB is making this sound. JB explains he’d handle it himself, but he’s visited the museum too many times. Someone might recognize him. Larry presses further. He wants to know how they’re turning the paintings into cash. JB insists he doesn’t need to know that. Larry pushes back, saying he wants an extra fifty for lifting the car. JB reluctantly agrees.
JB realizes he doesn’t have enough cash to pay his crew, so he decides to borrow money from his mother Sarah (Hope Davis). He spins a story about landing a major opportunity. An architect wants him to refurbish a house in the West End with custom Japanese-style cabinets. To pull it off, he needs to rent workspace and buy new tools. Sarah has her doubts, but she eventually writes him a check after he insists the job and the architect are real. JB promises to pay her back as soon as he gets paid.
On the day of the heist, everything appears to be going smoothly. JB drops his kids off at school like any other day. But when they get there, the place is empty. The school is closed for a teachers’ work day, and Tommy claims he never got the memo he was supposed to give to his parents. JB scrambles. He calls Terri at work and asks her to get June to watch the kids. She wants to know why they can’t stay with him since he’s not working. JB answers vaguely that he’s got things to do. Frustrated, Terri hangs up.
With no other option, JB leaves his kids in the parking lot near Echo Bowl, where he and his crew are supposed to meet after the heist. He hands Tommy some cash and tells him to watch his little brother. He says he’ll be back to pick them up at two o’clock.
Shortly after, Larry arrives at the same parking lot with the getaway car he lifted last night. JB hands him an envelope of cash, saying he’ll settle the rest after the job. Larry acts strange, then suddenly tells JB he’s bailing. Without a driver, the whole heist falls apart. JB tries to convince him to stay, but Larry’s mind is made up. His friend pulls up in a car, Larry gets in, and they take off.
Written and directed by American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, THE MASTERMIND follows James, an unemployed family man who hatches a plan to steal four paintings from the local art museum. Despite a few hiccups, the heist succeeds. But when one of his accomplices gets arrested for an unrelated bank robbery and confesses to their crime, investigators show up at James’s door. Things spiral further when a local crime boss takes the stolen paintings, leaving James with no leverage and no options. With his involvement about to go public, he’s forced to leave his wife and kids with his parents and go on the run.
If you’re hoping for an exhilarating heist film with unpredictable twists, this will probably disappoint you. That said, the first act is genuinely fascinating, with picturesque cinematography and meticulous details showing an amateur thief attempting his first heist. We see him playing mastermind, recruiting accomplices, improvising when things don’t go as planned, and even reluctantly becoming the getaway driver after one of his crew decides to bail at the last minute.
The cast delivers strong performances, particularly Josh O’Connor and John Magaro. Magaro is one of my favorite actors and he’s excellent in everything he does. Any film with him in it automatically gets an extra half star from me. Alana Haim is also impressive despite her character’s limited dialogue and restrained nature. Even when she doesn’t speak her mind, she manages to convey what’s left unsaid.
THE MASTERMIND premiered at Festival de Cannes on 23 May 2025 where it competed for the Palme d’Or. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 17 October.
