MAIDEN HEIST

Would obsession with art provide a good storyline for a movie? Yes, indeed. Especially when three wonderful actors collaborate to present delightful characters. In The Maiden Heist, Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, and William Macy are three long-serving museum guards who have become captivated by different pieces of art and are rattled when a new art director sells the collection in favor of a modern installation, and the men are devastated by the news. Then they come up with a scheme to save their favorite pieces. Walken was especially good as the lover of a painting called The Maiden; he spends hours observing it,a nd when he goes home he puts on his beret and reads about French painting. I thought his facial expressions, and dialogue with his wife, were wonderful. Freemen, whose character apppears to be gay, plays his role perfectly. There is a bit of slapstick comedy and wackiness, but it is the interaction of three very different men who find common ground and a common cause that is so great. I highly recommend this movie, for all ages. How the guys didn't garner (at least, I don't think they did) any awards for their performaces, is beyond me.