Best Laid Plans

""Nick" (Alessandro Nivola) reckons he is going to inherit a decent sized chunk from his late father, but when he discovers that there is nothing left he needs cash. Coaxed into being a getaway driver in a robbery that will net him $10,000 he is soon apprehended by the no-nonsense victim who demands $15,000 back - or else! He and his girlfriend "Lissa" (Reese Witherspoon) now concoct a rather elaborate plan to extort the money from his wealthy, nice-but-dim friend "Bryce" (Josh Brolin) by framing him for rape. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, but neither the acting nor the really quite banal dialogue sustain much of a sense of either menace or interest. Nivola hasn't the skill as an actor to engage us in this faintly ridiculous wheeze, and Witherspoon offers little either as we head to an especially dumb denouement. It's not just the robbery that is botched..."