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Although it never comes close to the classic capers it seeks to emulate, Sharper is just sleek and clever enough to pass the time.

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Benjamin Caron

Julianne Moore

Madeline Phillips

Sebastian Stan

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sharper movie review rotten tomatoes

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Benjamin Caron ’s “Sharper,” now in limited theatrical release and streaming on Apple TV+ next week, allows one to imagine what Julianne Moore and John Lithgow could have done with an ‘80s David Mamet screenplay like “ House of Games ” or “ The Spanish Prisoner .” It’s one of those narrative jigsaw puzzles that feels like it went from theatrical feature to streaming series sometime in the mid-‘10s. And so there’s a bit of a jolt of enjoyment at just watching it unfold, moving back and forth through various cons until the final one lands on the table. The problem is that the Mamet brand of tough-talking puzzle movie is harder to pull off than it looks, and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka just don’t have the gift of dialogue needed to elevate this thriller beyond its foundation. Mamet’s best films used dialogue as a weapon as his characters alternately withheld and revealed like Ricky Jay doing a magic trick. “Sharper” clearly wants to mimic that aesthetic, but the whole thing is only good enough as a diversion.

Justice Smith plays Tom, a soft-spoken young man who works at an old bookstore, selling first editions of famous novels. One night, a beautiful young woman named Sandra (relative newcomer Briana Middleton , more than holding her own opposite some legends) enters Tom’s shop, and the two have instant chemistry. They flirt and eventually go to dinner, jumping into a quick relationship. After only a couple of weeks, Sandra is meeting Tom’s friends, and the L-word is even thrown around. Then she reveals she has a brother who is in trouble. He needs some cash, an insane amount of cash. After the danger for Sandra’s brother intensifies, Tom agrees to get the funds from his extremely wealthy father, Richard (John Lithgow). Of course, Sandra disappears with the money.

Don’t worry. That’s not a major spoiler, only the first of several con games and revelations revealed through Gatewood and Tanaka’s vignette structure, one that focuses on one character at a time, revealing the role they play in a script that sometimes stretches credulity as it flashes back and sometimes even sideways. The second vignette jumps back to reveal how Sandy became Sandra under the tutelage of a slimy con artist named Max ( Sebastian Stan ), who just happens to have a connection to Madeline (Julianne Moore), the new wife of, you guessed it, Richard.

“Sharper” opens with a definition of its title: “One who lives by their wits.” That should give you an idea of how smart this script thinks it is. Once featured on the Black List, it’s one of those chronological jumbles that streamers adore because it drops a revelation every couple of minutes like a metronome. But there’s a simple joy in watching the thriller machine at work. We don’t get movies like this very often anymore, and I enjoyed watching the succession of betrayals and double-crosses, even if I could tell where it was going to end long before it did.

And yet it’s easy to see where “Sharper” is a little dull. Not only do the cons become a bit unbelievable, especially the ease with which the final one is executed, but you realize that these characters are pretty shallowly drawn. Again, Mamet got so much mileage out of incisive dialogue. We don’t need extensive backstory if the dialogue can convey that these people are smart enough and street savvy enough to pull off their con games. “Sharper” doesn’t quite connect those dots.

It’s also too stylish by half. This is a sleek affair that pretends to traffic in desperate people but rarely lets its characters sweat. It has too little dirt under its fingernails and too little blood pumping through its veins. It needs to feel more dangerous to be truly effective.

Having said all of that, it goes down smoothly. Most of the talented cast is minimally challenged by the script—even if it's fun to see Moore chewing on something that allows her to be more playful—but Middleton has a lot to juggle as Sandra/Sandy goes through several iterations in this twisty tale. She’s very engaging in a way that makes one want to see her again in a similar project. Maybe something pointier.

In theatres today and available on Apple TV+ on February 17th.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Sharper movie poster

Sharper (2023)

Rated R for language throughout and some sexual references.

116 minutes

Julianne Moore as Madeline Phillips

Sebastian Stan as Max

Justice Smith as Tom

Briana Middleton as Sandra

John Lithgow as Richard Hobbes

Darren Goldstein as Pat Braddock

Phillip Johnson Richardson as Det. Collins

Kerry Flanagan as Larusso

David Pittu as David (Lawyer)

Quincy Dunn-Baker as William Tyler

Lucy Taylor as Valaria

  • Benjamin Caron
  • Brian Gatewood
  • Alessandro Tanaka

Cinematographer

  • Charlotte Bruus Christensen
  • Clint Mansell

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‘sharper’ review: julianne moore and sebastian stan in a simmering thriller that never reaches full boil.

A group of people in New York deceive and connive to gain power, access and money in Benjamin Caron's tense film also starring Justice Smith and Briana Middleton.

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Julianne Moore and Justice Smith in Sharper.

Sharper, an A24 and Apple TV+ psychological thriller starring Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan , opens with a love story. A graduate student named Sandra (Briana Middleton) walks into a used bookstore in New York searching for a first edition copy of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God . The man working the counter, Tom ( Justice Smith ), is immediately smitten. He clumsily asks her on a date. She rejects him. Later that evening, Sandra returns to the store and timidly announces she’s changed her mind.

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Helmed by Benjamin Caron and written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandra Tanaka (of the The Sitter ), Sharper aspires to be a wily tale of deception and a nervy, nail-biting adventure. The film enhances the typical con-artist-planning-an-ultimate-heist template by repeatedly throwing every character’s motivation into question. Who can you trust? Who should you trust? Part of Sharper ’s fun is in how it encourages close reading: Avert your gaze for a moment and you risk missing a clue. This is a film best experienced in a group setting, among friends, the kind of project that fosters conspiratorial thinking and could inspire multiple watches — if only it got out of its own way.

From the end of its first act, Sharper provokes burning questions and drums up anticipation. The cracks in Tom’s relationship with Sandra are faint, but they do exist if you look closely enough. Gatewood and Tanaka prey on the doubts sowed by seeming perfection to make us question the intimacy on display.

But their narrative — which broadens to include other characters — simmers for too long, taking viewers on a merry-go-round of tricks and turns that eventually start to echo one another. By the time the end credits roll, viewers have gathered evidence that the film doesn’t take advantage of and have all this energy with nowhere to go.

Smith and Middleton’s performances ignite our curiosity, but the entire ensemble sustains our interest. Stan plays Max, a seedy schemer who we quickly learn enlisted Sandra into a network of other con artists. He leans into, and has fun teasing and exploring, the layers of his character’s scumbag personality traits.

Moore, who appears later as Madeline, the girlfriend of billionaire Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow), is also an enjoyable presence here. She emphasizes her character’s competitive nature and greed but balances that with a less obviously ambitious side that turns her into an enigma. Sharper excitedly circles the questions of who she is and what her relationship to the other characters may be.

DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen ( Fences, The Banker ) gives each chapter a distinct enough visual language without losing the dusky atmosphere and (now overused) desaturated color palette that unites them. Editor Yan Miles works skillfully to create a cohesion that honors the film’s nonlinear narrative, and Clint Mansell’s score deepens our appreciation of each character’s ambiguous motivations.

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ustice Smith and Julianne Moore in Sharper.

Sharper review – slick con trick movie nearly pulls off a perfect crime

Benjamin Caron’s enjoyable caper features a glorious turn by Julianne Moore but stumbles in the final act

I t’s almost great. Benjamin Caron’s Sharper is a looping, teasing long con of a movie that traces its DNA back to David Mamet’s quick-witted hustlers and Anjelica Huston’s gloriously ruthless matriarch in Stephen Frears’s The Grifters . The picture’s chapter structure – each headed by a character’s name, each giving a fresh perspective of an interconnected web of greed and treachery – is handled with real flair. The performances, so thickly layered with charm and artifice that it’s hard to know what and who is real and what isn’t, are first-rate. It’s a pacy and enjoyable movie.

But here’s the thing about con movies: unlike other pictures, which tend to be built from the ground up, the key to the hustle is in the third-act payoff. The foundations of the film come right at the end. If those foundations are sound, everything that comes before – the whole tricky framework of lies and deceit – holds firm. But any hint of a wobble, and the entire picture is retroactively structurally compromised. And without giving too much away, there are stress fractures in the climax that, once you notice them, undermine some of the slick credibility of the plotting.

Still, there’s much to enjoy here. The New York backdrop, which combines the hard, moneyed shine of Manhattan present with the seductive sleaze of Manhattan past, and the chemistry between bookshop manager Tom (Justice Smith) and PhD student Sandra (Briana Middleton), neither of whom is quite what they say they are. And then there’s the magnificent Julianne Moore , mercurial and slippery in a gift of a role that makes the very most of her considerable talents.

Sharper is on Apple TV+ and in selected UK cinemas

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Sharper Is a Wickedly Good Thriller That Reminds Us of Better Days

sharper movie review rotten tomatoes

By Richard Lawson

Sharper Is a Wickedly Good Thriller That Reminds Us of Better Days

The new con-artist thriller Sharper is arriving in theaters on February 10 (a week ahead of its debut on AppleTV+) with dismayingly little fanfare when it should instead be celebrated. The film, from director Benjamin Caron and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka , is something vanishingly rare in today’s woebegone cinematic climate: a movie that, to borrow a phrase from a recent Grammys villain, feels like a movie. Sharper is sinewy and clever, a keenly acted and written B-picture of the sort that were once myriad but now only come around once every few years. 

Sharper is built in segments, each following a different character caught in a web of lies and avarice. In the first part we meet Tom ( Justice Smith ), an unassuming (if dreamy) book store clerk who has a meet-cute with a customer, Sandra ( Brianna Middleton ). They share a bookish rapport, but Sandra is initially guarded against Tom’s gentle advances. When she does eventually agree to a date (later that day), she and Tom prove a natural fit. We watch as they fall in love over the subsequent weeks, building a glamorous little bohemian life together. That cozy swoon is emboldened by Caron and the cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen ’s choice to shoot on film; instead of the plastic dullness of a toss-off digital Netflix thriller, we get the grain and light of what movies used to look like. 

Inevitably, trouble knocks on the besotted couple’s door. Sandra’s brother is in a bad spot and needs money. Tom reveals that, well, he’s got a sizable trust fund granted to him by his zillionaire father. Problem solved? No, of course not. Thus Sharper begins its crafty game, circling back on characters to reveal true intentions, or at least another layer of deception. Middleton takes center stage for a bit; then an alluring creep named Max ( Sebastian Stan ) moves to the fore. Finally there’s a smooth society lady, Madeline, played by a coolly radiant Julianne Moore . 

As Sharper snakes its way along, Caron guides with a steady and confident hand. It’s an auspicious feature film debut, artful and polished while still mindful of the crucial mechanics of a twisty thriller. I’m sure Caron has ambitions beyond this kind of elegant pulp, but if he wanted to make a dozen more movies in this exact vein I’d eagerly welcome them. 

Maybe a few of them could star Moore. In Sharper , the venerable actor returns to the flintiness and purr that has defined some of her best work. Moore got her start acting in soap operas, a particular skill set that she deftly deploys in Sharper . She’s so good at pushing things right up to the edge of camp without becoming silly; Moore is a consummate entertainer, carefully aware of her duty to keep things compelling. She’s got crackling chemistry with Stan, these two conniving sexpots doing terrible things with a hungry glint in their eyes. 

Middleton is another standout, a relative newcomer who seizes a large, ever-shifting role with the ease and glide of an old pro. Like the rest of her cast mates, she seems invigorated by the snap and sophistication of the project. Middleton also deftly spars Stan, who has become one of the more reliable dark princes of the acting world—when he isn’t stuck glooming it up in various Marvel projects. Stan seems purpose built for a movie like Sharper , which asks him to be dashing and petulant, ruthless and bratty. He, Middleton, Moore, and the rest delight in the fun, substantial roles handed to them.

Would that there were many more like them. Maybe 20 years ago, a movie like this wouldn’t seem so precious; it’s possible Sharper only feels like a satisfying meal because we are so otherwise starved. But these are the times we’re living in, so I’m perfectly willing to declare Sharper one of those direly needed movies that they just don’t make anymore. It’s a stylish and engaging film that dares to be nothing more than a literate good time. It’s, to put it frankly, one of the best movies of 2023 .

Though the movie will be streaming into your homes soon enough, consider seeking it out in theaters if you can. Perhaps a little box office success could encourage studios to produce more movies like Sharper , rather than churning out yet another mystery that’s been agonizingly stretched out over ten tedious hours. If it helps, just think of Sharper as a super-limited series—though, limited only in length.

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Sharper is a Sleek and Seductive Thriller That Keeps You Guessing

Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan burn up the screen in the neo-noir thriller that plays the long con.

sharper movie review rotten tomatoes

One regular afternoon, a bookstore owner and a pretty customer have a meet-cute. Everything goes right: they connect about books, they charm one another, they make plans for a real date. It goes so right that the red flags, flying high already, go completely unnoticed.

This is the premise of A24’s new Apple TV+ film “Sharper,” an enticing mystery that never stops turning the story on its head. Director Benjamin Caron sets the stage for a blossoming love story, and then pulls those trappings away to reveal the kind of shady, ruthless dealings that could go on underneath a perfectly tailored romance.

The film follows four central characters — Justice Smith’s Tom, Briana Middleton’s Sandra, Sebastian Smith’s Max, and Julianne Moore’s Madeline — and explores how they fit into the shady underbelly of New York City’s con artist world . When Sandra meets Tom in his bookstore one day, an intense connection starts to bloom. But soon, Tom discovers not all is as it seems in life and love, and that realization sets off a chain of events that alters not only both of their lives, but the lives of those closest to both of them in ways no one expects.

Sharper

Julianne Moore and John Lithgow star in Sharper , a neo-noir thriller that keeps you on your toes.

The film follows a clever structure that keeps you guessing throughout, weaving a devious scheme among a group of seemingly unconnected individuals. Cowriters Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka masterfully withhold the information until the exact right moment, taking the audience on a hard left turn just when you think you know where the story is going. Though it isn’t necessarily doing anything new — stories about con artists require these dramatic red herring set-ups — the film still feels fresh. There’s an almost chic touch to the story, despite a classic sense of the con artist trope at work, mostly because the central performances feel so modern and polished in their depiction of the class structure of Manhattan. That the film can build and sustain that tone throughout, even when the story gets down and dirty, is a testament to the strength of the script and a top-notch quartet of lead actors.

Julianne Moore still continues to surprise with the range and depth of her work. Less than a month ago, Moore meticulously played a guarded social worker with little to no bedside manner in Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, and now, her new acting mark — no pun intended — is a cunning and hot mom who has a little too much love for her son. There’s even a little bit of Boogie Nights in her turn as the alluring Madeline. She and Stan, who share a ton of screentime, have a connection as actors that is really fun to watch. They are sexy and dangerous together, a combination you wouldn’t necessarily expect from them, but feels perfect for the morals their characters do or don’t uphold.

Middleton stands out as the newcomer of the film’s central ensemble, but she fiercely holds her own amongst the likes of Moore and Stan. Her soft-spoken, tender side complements Smith and their chemistry is palpable. She also pulls off the more rugged side of her character with a learned believability; she’s the full package, an exciting star to watch as her character’s circumstances ebb and flow.

The film is sleekly directed, embedding the trained precision of con artistry into each beat of the plot. But the movie also doesn’t shy away from giving flowers to one of the film’s great mysteries, and it works to Sharper ’s advantage. The movie boasts a semi-obvious Seven homage, and despite the original scene’s fatalism, Caron’s new version is able to get the same effect from the use of spatial awareness. That said, Caron’s scene is also able to give the audience the satisfaction Seven ’s filmmaker David Fincher denies his viewers in his original harrowing ending. Sharper is much more concerned with justice than Fincher’s movie ever tried to be, but there is no shame in either’s game. It’s nice sometimes to watch a movie where the bad guys get theirs in the end.

Sharper

Justice Smith and Brianna Middleton in Sharper .

Speaking of endings, the film’s soundtrack is the perfect finishing touch. The buoyant synth music gives the project this edgy vibe, with hints of John Carpenter and the semi-recent It Follows score. The movie isn’t horror, but the dramatic effect the score gives the film reflects in the visuals too, those two elements working in tandem to create this specific view of New York City. Even the pre-existing musical selections feel right, especially the lyrics of the film’s closing Nina Simone track. The film’s cinematography also aids in this end, juxtaposing the city’s grit-tinged haze and its glossy, velvet sheen of affluence. DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen — perhaps best known for her work on A Quiet Place and Girl on the Train — shoots the human subjects of this film like she does the prevalent landscapes of the story: with precision and clean style, one that entices the audience to dig deeper into the story and the characters themselves.

Sharper paints a picture of an all-too-polished Manhattan that hides a complicated, heartless underworld. Though the film isn’t breaking any boundaries in the crime genre, it holds its own alongside some of the better films of its kind. Con artists have long since been a captivating film subject, and Sharper expands on this fascination in a way that feels modern and worthy of the puzzle it pushes us to solve. Like the quiet swindlers at work in this story, it feels like Sharper is so slick it might actually fly under the radar like a lot of great Apple TV+ programming. But here’s to hoping that the stylish and seductive scammer thriller finds the audience it deserves.

Sharper premieres in select theaters February 10 and globally on Apple TV+ on February 17, 2023.

This article was originally published on Feb. 7, 2023

sharper movie review rotten tomatoes

Sharper: release date, reviews, trailer, cast and everything we know about the thriller

Julianne Moore leads an all-star cast in Sharper.

John Lithgow and Julianne Moore in Sharper

The knives are out in Sharper , a neo-noir thriller that is the first new movie of 2023 from Apple TV Plus, with an all-star cast set to take part in the power plays at the story's center.

Sharper is just one of a handful of star-studded, high-profile movies coming from Apple TV Plus in 2023. Other titles include a pair of high-profile documentaries on NBA superstar Steph Curry's rise to prominence ( Stephen Curry: Underrated ) and actor Michael J. Fox ( STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie ); there’s also the Henry Cavill-led spy thriller Argyle and the Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro movie Killers of the Flower Moon .

But this post is about Sharper , so let's get into everything that you need to know about the movie.

Sharper release date

Sharper was released in limited movie theaters on Friday, February  10. It is going to release worldwide on Apple TV Plus on February 17, allowing anyone who is an Apple TV Plus subscriber to stream the movie.

Sharper plot

Here is the official plot of Sharper from Apple TV Plus:

"No one is who they seem in Sharper , a neo-noir thriller of secrets and lies, set amongst New York City's bedrooms, barrooms and boardrooms. Characters compete for riches and power in a high-stakes game of ambition, greed, lust and jealousy that will keep audiences guessing until the final moment."

Sharper was written by Brian Gatewood & Alessandro Tanaka ( The Sitter , Superstore ).

Sharper cast

Julianne Moore has top billing for Sharper . Moore is an Oscar-winning actress for Still Alice , with numerous other iconic roles, including Boogie Nights , Far From Heaven , The Big Lebowski , Children of Men and The Kids Are Alright . Also in 2023, she has the movie When You Finish Saving the World .

Moore's supporting cast features Sebastian Stan, best known for his role as Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier in the MCU , but also earning an Emmy nomination for Pam & Tommy in 2022. There's also John Litghow, the Oscar-nominee for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment and Emmy winner for The Crown , whose most recent role was in the hit drama The Old Man . Jurassic World: Dominion and Detective Pikachu star Justice Smith and Briana Middleton, who previously starred in The Tender Bar , round out the main cast.

Sharper trailer

The official trailer for Sharper has arrived, asking if you can read between the lies as Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore and Briana Middleton attempt to take a piece of the good lives for themselves, courtesy of John Lithgow's billions. Watch the trailer directly below:

Sharper reviews — what the critics are saying

Sharper is getting a mixed response from critics, but as of Friday, February 10, it has a "Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes , right on the border with 60%.

Here are a couple of snippets from reviews for the thriller:

Jake Coyle, Associated Press : "A slinky, slick caper that finds ways to distort expectations while unfolding a puzzle-box narrative."

Maddy Mussen, London Evening Standard : "It’s hard to be invested in a film where the characters are so painfully paper-thin. Moore does her best to save it but can’t seem to pull it through."

How long is Sharper?

Sharper has a runtime of one hour and 56 minutes.

What is Sharper rated?

Sharper is rated R in the US and 15 in the UK for "language throughout and some sexual references"

Sharper director

Benjamin Caron is making his feature directing debut with Sharper , though he has plenty of experience directing some of the biggest and most cinematic TV shows of recent memory. He directed multiple episodes of 2022's Andor and across different seasons of The Crown . He also directed Sherlock 's season 4 episode "The Final Problem." 

Sharper poster

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Julianne Moore, John Lithgow, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and Briana Middleton in Sharper (2023)

Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned to chaos as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned to chaos as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned to chaos as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires.

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‘Sharper’ Review: The Big Con

The film stars Sebastian Stan and Julianne Moore in a baroque but lackluster story of con artists circling a Manhattan billionaire’s fortune.

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A man and a woman, both wearing black, sit on a leather sofa looking at a person out of frame.

By Nicolas Rapold

Perhaps phishing emails have taken the romance out of con artistry, but “Sharper” feels downright quaint in its Russian-doll plotting of elaborate scams. That’s no crime in itself, but the movie also confirms that stories about con artists might require more panache, or at least a sense of danger.

The movie opens with a rom-com coziness, as Sandra (Briana Middleton) meets Tom (Justice Smith) in his tastefully appointed Greenwich Village bookshop. Their goo-goo-eyed dating ends badly, with the extraction of a large sum of cash. Each chapter of the film then pulls back the curtain on one of the characters. We learn that Sandra previously crossed paths with Max (Sebastian Stan), a smooth operator who is close to the Fifth Avenue habitué Madeline (Julianne Moore).

Madeline in turn is dating a billionaire (John Lithgow), who’s about as safe in this setup as a chicken in a shark tank. The false fronts of the plotting are the film’s only reliable kick, and so they’re best left unexposed here, but the general modus operandi hinges on triggering protective impulses and panic responses.

Yet this tony-looking film, directed by Benjamin Caron (“The Crown”), feels less poker-faced than prim about its characters and their behavior. The story misses the clinical bravado of David Mamet’s heists, the psychosexual menace of “The Grifters,” or — despite opening with a dictionary definition — the crooked community described in the David Maurer classic “The Big Con.”

The film’s biggest trick might be casting Moore, Stan and the positively glowing Middleton and still never quite catching fire.

Sharper Rated R for language throughout and some sexual references. Running time: 1 hour 56 minutes. Watch on Apple TV+.

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Sharper Review

Sharper

17 Feb 2023

Do you like films with twists? How about a film with a hundred twists? Sharper presents itself in a handful of different chapters, one for each of the main protagonists/antagonists (they’re all a bit of both), each instalment providing a new perspective, each one rewinding, peeling back onion layers and revealing spiralling levels of fuckery. It’s both fun and tedious.

Sharper

Tom ( Justice Smith , here a sympathetic sap) works in a humble, quiet New York bookstore. When Sandra ( Briana Middleton ) appears, looking for an old classic, his synapses spark. He’s lost and lonely, she’s all sweet smiles and empathy, and soon they’re in love, enjoying a blissful relationship, until trouble emerges. Her brother needs money — a lot of money — and Tom thinks he can help. From there, a film which has for ten minutes been a sweet millennial meet-cute changes into a con drama in which anything mentioned here would be spoilery, but suffice it to say, nobody is what they seem, everyone is taken for a fool, and people are double, triple, quadruple-crossed to dizzying degrees.

There's enough to hold your attention, but there's something missing.

Director Benjamin Caron directed some episodes of Andor , including the final two — masterclasses in tension and dramatic action. Oddly, there’s not much of that going on here, despite the jigsaw-like story and the high stakes. It’s slick, handsome work (thanks to cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen, who made A Quiet Place look so good), but if you’re expecting Andor stress levels, you might feel deflated.

It’s easy to see, though, why the cast would have been into it — they’re all playing, basically, liars, who get to present themselves one way, and then another, and in some cases, yet another. As the romantic partner of John Lithgow ’s gazillionaire widower, Julianne Moore has a blast being very Julianne Moore, without doing anything she hasn’t done better before. Briana Middleton is great, the best thing here, the film’s heart and soul. She contains multitudes. Sebastian Stan , meanwhile, doubles down on his recent penchant for playing obnoxious, volatile, violent assholes. From Fresh to Pam & Tommy and now this, he’s sandwiching much sleaze between his MCU outings, once again playing an insalubrious scumbag, a swaggering moral abyss. He’s good at it, clearly delighting in unlikability — all hail the new king of toxic masculinity.

So this is a good cast and crew, chewing on knotty material. Yet Sharper is a somewhat vapid affair, the shaggiest of dogs, where revelations feel like shrugs and coincidences feel like contrivances. There’s enough to hold your attention — it’s entertaining here and there, in its silliness — and it’s not un-fun watching this lot — but there’s something missing. It’s all plot, and not nearly enough humanity — it would be a whole lot more effective if we were given more reason to actually care about these people, or about what happens to any of them. If you’re up for a diverting yarn, it is definitely that. But only that.

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Sharper

Movies | 12 01 2023

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

‘Sharper’: A pleasurable if predictable puzzle box

A quartet of competing con men and women try to out-grift each other in this twisty thriller.

sharper movie review rotten tomatoes

The con-game thriller is a cerebral movie genre, as opposed to an emotional or psychological one. Not to minimize its pleasures, but as with the heist flick, the fun typically lies in the design and construction of the elaborate puzzle box at its center: How will the sting be delivered, and to whom?

In the case of “Sharper,” we’re treated to puzzle boxes within puzzle boxes, each one delivered in sequential chapters — titled after the film’s main characters, Tom, Sandra, Max and Madeline — and unpacked, initially in reverse chronological order, with satisfying, if somewhat predictable, style and suspense. If you’re seeking substance, look elsewhere.

Who are these characters? Tom (Justice Smith) is the owner of a quaintly impractical Manhattan book shop; Sandra (Briana Middleton) is a grad student, bookworm and his customer turned girlfriend; Max (Sebastian Stan) is a con man, or sharper; and Madeline (Julianne Moore) is his mother and the soon-to-be-trophy-wife of Richard (John Lithgow), a billionaire who drops the film’s mantra, disguised as a piece of financial advice to Max, after a small, incidental con goes awry:

“All that work for $1,000? If you’re going to steal, steal a lot.” It’s advice that is soon put into practice.

By the way, the descriptions above pertain to the characters as we initially encounter them. But their true identities, relationships and motives slip, slide, morph and migrate every which way as the action unspools.

Richard’s philosophy — another version of “be good, or be good at it” — is the ethos of a film in which nearly everyone is on the grift, at least eventually. That doesn’t mean there aren’t good guys and bad guys here, despite these words of cynical wisdom from Max: “You can’t cheat an honest man. That’s why we never feel sorry for the mark.” Among the marks and sharpers — and sometimes one person is both — there are heroes and villains. It just takes awhile to identify who’s who.

The cast, unsurprisingly, is the film’s ace up its sleeve, especially Moore and Middleton, each of whom is riveting to watch, in different ways, as their characters negotiate hairpin plot turns and twists of fate. Each actress is at her best when manipulating the men in the film, or each other.

There may be, as Max says, no honest character in this story, co-written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka (creators of the uncategorizable “Comrade Detective” comedy series on Prime Video) and capably directed by Benjamin Caron, a veteran of British TV making his feature debut. But there is honor among these thieves and cheats — at least one or two of them — and the film’s gratification comes from figuring out where it’s been hidden.

R. At area theaters; available Feb. 17 on Apple TV Plus. Contains strong language throughout and some sexual references. 116 minutes.

sharper movie review rotten tomatoes

Screen Rant

Sharper review: a terrific cast holds up sleek yet predictable con thriller.

Sharper is a sleek and twisty neo-noir riff on scammers that skimps on chaos and settles for a neat ending that leaves something to be desired.

A " sharper ," as told in the opening credits of the A24 and Apple collaboration aptly titled Sharper , is " someone who lives by their wits. " For the most part, everyone in Sharper keeps their wits about them. That could be what makes the film feel both like a surprisingly assured debut and as if something is missing. With a stunning cast, Sharper is everything that it needs to be — a sleek, neo-noir riff on grifters and scammers that is twisty and fun. But, just when things really ramp up, Sharper skimps on the chaos and settles for a neat ending that leaves something to be desired.

Sharper begins with a simple love story between Tom (Justice Smith) and Sandra (Briana Middleton). Sandra wanders into Tom's bookstore, mentions Jane Eyre , and the two quickly fall into each other's arms. There's just one problem: Sandra's brother owes some guys $350,000. Conveniently, Tom has that (and more) in his bank account. Here, anyone who would consider themselves a " sharper " should begin to piece together that Sandra may not be who she says she is. The film wastes no time in confirming those suspicions, revealing its kaleidoscopic tale of cons and grifters in the upper echelon of New York society.

Related: The Blue Caftan Review: Bakri & Azabal Are Fantastic In Nuanced, Touching Drama

After Sandra's con on Tom, Sharper quickly reveals the structure in which it is going to tell its story, a deceptive, albeit believable move through time and perspective. This kind of deceptive storytelling was a hotly debated topic after the release of Glass Onion and that movie's reveal of its own twist that relied on going back in time. Many claimed deceptive storytelling as a lazy stand-in for something smarter. However, S harper cannot be accused of lazy storytelling and, in fact, it is the film's deceptiveness that makes its story much more interesting in the first place.

Told straight, Sharper could've been an unremarkable if stylish con movie. As director Benjamin Caron and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka unveil the layers at play in Sharper , the perspective of the viewer grows wider, and they become attuned to the movie's rhythm. This rhythm may have doomed itself to predictability, but it's a fun predictability. The fact that Sharper has a uniformly terrific cast also helps when it comes to this. Julianne Moore relishes her role as the younger wife of John Lithgow's character. Additionally, Sebastian Stan turns in a performance that is equal parts sleaze and polish. Max is another character to add to Stan's growing repertoire of discomfiting men, including his stint as Tommy Lee in Pam & Tommy , or his cannibalistic boyfriend Steve from Fresh .

It's Middleton as Sandra who stands out most of all, though. Sandra becomes the unexpected anchor of the film through all its reveals, even as she disappears for a little. The fact that Middleton is able to sell the ending is a feat in and of itself. For all of Sharper 's twists and turns, it's disappointing that the last one lands with the softest blow. Just when Sharper should go out swinging, it pulls its punches in an unexpected fashion, eschewing mayhem for something much cleaner. After nearly two hours of tension, though, it feels like a sigh of relief more than a release of any catharsis.

For all its shortcomings, Sharper manages to pull together all of its cons with a finesse that could have easily been bungled in less capable hands. Even if it fails at its greatest con of all — pulling one over on audiences — it still manages to be a taut thriller that feels fully realized. Hollywood has long lamented the death of the mid-budget, original adult movie, but Sharper certainly fits that bill. That Apple is a place that is willing to produce these should come as no surprise. Instead of having an established catalog, the streamer is slowly building out one filled with its own original content. Sharper is at least a worthy addition to that library.

More: Magic Mike's Last Dance Review: Tatum's Still Got It In Underwhelming Conclusion

Sharper releases on AppleTV+ on February 17. The film is 116 minutes long and rated R for language throughout and some sexual references.

‘Sharper’ Review: Sebastian Stan & Julianne Moore Run Cons in an Inconsistent Crime Thriller

Also starring Justice Smith, Briana Middleton, and John Lithgow, 'Sharper' has a promising premise and a great cast, but fizzles out in the end.

On paper, Sharper is the type of movie that is made for me. Sebastian Stan plays a grifter named Max who, with his lover and partner Madeline, played by Julianne Moore , pulls jobs conning rich people out of their money. When Max and Madeline have a falling out, he meets Sandy, played by Briana Middleton , and employs her while teaching her the tricks of the trade, using her to honey-trap the oblivious and rich Tom, played by Justice Smith . Told in a non-linear fashion, Benjamin Caron 's film almost manages to impress, but falters in the final act and fails to wrap the story up in an interesting way.

Written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka , there is a certain sleekness to the majority of the film that makes it alluring at first glance. Stan's Max is insanely charming, and he uses his skills as a confidence man like a well-honed weapon. We're never quite comfortable in his presence, but he still draws us in all the same. Middleton's Sandy is warm and empathetic, a quick study, and thrilled by the adrenaline that comes from a successful heist. Oftentimes she also acts as the voice and perspective of the audience. When she falls for Smith's Tom, it's made that much more tragic when you learn why Sandy is conning Tom in the first place and how it plays into the larger plot. If the movie focused on this dynamic between the three characters, Sharper might have been better off. But Moore's Madeline throws a wrench in the film that complicates things unnecessarily.

RELATED: Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and Briana Middleton on How ‘Sharper’ Keeps You Guessing

It's not that Moore isn't great, her performance, along with that of her co-stars, is impressive, and she has a presence that dominates any scene she's in. But Madeline adds a new facet to an already convoluted story. Her relationship with Max is the true catalyst of the events of the film, but by introducing her later in the movie, there's little time for her to develop beyond what she is at the surface. She becomes a character who is the two-dimensional villain by default simply because we don't know enough about her. Her scheming is delicious, but it feels shallow compared to the earlier scenes in the film where we watch as Max trains Sandy in the skill of the grift, or we watch as Sandy and Tom form a close bond while dating. When the overall story reveals itself to be more melodrama than thriller, that's when it all falls apart. The story gives in to a saccharine conclusion that feels droll and uninteresting.

Although there's a lot happening in the movie that telegraphs the ending we get, it still feels lacking. Perhaps it's because we're aware of the inherent danger and manipulation involved in pulling a con, and that makes us question how realistic the ending can be. The bad guys are shoved to the side and the good guys win — it's never that simple, but Sharper seems adamant to make us feel warm and fuzzy by the end. It's disappointing because the film has the potential to be a great crime thriller. Its non-linear narrative and moody aesthetic feel effortlessly cool, elevating the film beyond just a crime story. Max is a chameleon, switching between being on and off so quickly it's hard to tell if he's great at his job or simply sociopathic. Paired with the more vulnerable and open Sandy, the film makes their connection feel heavier than any other in the story. There are scenes between the two of them that make us believe there is a human being beneath the glossy veneer that Max keeps up, and that's when the story is at its most interesting. Yes, Sandy has feelings for Tom, and Max has feelings for Madeline, and those feelings are complicated, but the chemistry between Stan and Middleton made me wish for more scenes between the two.

And maybe that's also because their scenes are the ones involving actual grifts, bringing us into the grift rather than dropping us in at the halfway point or at the end. Part of the fun of movies like this, like American Hustle , Catch Me If You Can, or Oceans 11 , is being in on the con — feeling like you're getting away with the crime and being in on the trick. Sharper utilizes the cons later in the film less as full scenes on their own to show off character skill and more as a vehicle that barrels us toward the desired ending faster. It feels like a cop-out, unearned due to how much plot is jam-packed into one story. The pacing suffers because of this, and by the last 40 minutes, you can see the ending coming from a mile away, and you're merely forced to ride it out to the end. The story goes from being dark and sinister to surprisingly sweet, topped with a neat bow. There's no messiness from the fallout of a con gone wrong, it just ends.

It's disappointing because I can imagine a version of Sharper where we're left discomforted by the film, wondering who we should have been rooting for all along. In real life cons, grifters are often damned as villains but also hailed as heroes, especially those who steal from the rich. After all, as we learn, the marks that Max and Madeline go after are uber-wealthy, with money that is probably unethically earned. There's a sort of worship of the grifter who can trick people using their charm like a superpower, especially when used against someone we feel deserves to be conned. As the audience, we should have been lured into liking Max, Madeline, and Sandy, we should have been rooting for them to win even if we knew it came at the expense of real people like Tom. But Sharper draws the line in the sand for you and weakens its narrative in the process. Ultimately, there's much to enjoy in Sharper , with a premise that offers intrigue and a strong group of performances, but it falls flat at the end, unwilling to dig deeper into its characters or the meaning behind its story.

Sharper is now available in select theaters and on Apple TV+

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Sharper review – a duller than expected confidence game

sharper-review

Directed by Benjamin Caron, we review the 2023 Apple TV+  film Sharper, which does not contain spoilers.

Movies that feature the trials and tribulations of conmen and women can range from slick to camp. The A24 film, Sharper , is a bit of both, even if the first act is an intriguing setup, and the second act has a reasonably decent twist, albeit a con-artist movie trope we have seen before. All of this should add up to a proper payoff, but any confidence game on film needs to have a finish that tops them all. The third act of Benjamin Caron’s freshman feature is a telegraphed effort with a dull finish.

Sharper Review and Plot Summary

Sharper’s story follows a handful of con artists, billionaires, and heirs to billionaires. That includes Tom ( Justice Smith ), a bookstore owner who meets a young Ph.D. candidate, Sandra ( Briana Middleton ), who is earning her degree in literature. Tom’s estranged father, Richard ( John Lithgow ), is a wealthy and powerful blue blood. The man worth over nine billion dollars has put a charitable foundation in his son’s name.

Richard and Tom have had a falling out and have been at odds with each other since losing their wife/mother. However, Richard is now involved with Madeline ( Julianne Moore ). She is a good twenty years younger than Richard but old enough to have a millennial son, Max ( Sebastian Stan ). Madeline’s son is spoiled and bratty and makes an entrance at Richard’s cocktail party that would put the guard up on any potential wealthy stepfather.

READ: Best Movies on Apple TV+ in 2023

Those are the players, now the man behind the curtain. As mentioned above, this is Andor and The Crown director Benjamin Caron’s first feature. And this is more than a competent effort through the first two acts. The slick framing, over-the-top yet entertaining performances, and the story build a curious amount of glamorized campiness that never reaches that type of so-bad-it’s-good appeal.

The script, by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, part of the famous “black list” of popular but unproduced screenplays by Hollywood executives, is essentially broken into three sections. Not quite ingeniously, but with pun intended, it sharply plays around with the film’s timeline. The first section, involving Smith’s Tom and Middleton’s Sandra, builds genuine suspense. While part two heavily involves Sebastian Stan (could there be any better confidence man?), it engages the viewer’s intrigue. The transitions into each section are creative, leaving one behind as the secondary characters lead the way to the next story.

READ: Where was the movie Sharper filmed?

However, what the writers and director forget on the way to the conclusion is the third act payoff has to be more innovative and more clever than anything seen before it in a con-artist caper. Here, the third act is overdone, while the first 70 minutes feel effortless. Unless you have never seen a film in this genre, you know exactly where this one will end up. The twists are so telegraphed they might as well come with neon arrows, and the reasoning is corny at best.

Is the 2023 movie Sharper worth watching?

Even with some performances, particularly by Moore and Stan, reveled in, Sharper’s finale is duller than expected. The result is disrespectful for a film that proclaims itself as sharp as a tack, which doesn’t put much faith or respect in the viewer’s hands.

What did you think of the 2023 Apple TV+ film Sharper? Comment below.

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Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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  1. Sharper

    Rated: 3/4 Oct 27, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews Movie Info Synopsis Motivations are suspect, and expectations are turned upside down, as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires.

  2. Sharper movie review & film summary (2023)

    Benjamin Caron's "Sharper," now in limited theatrical release and streaming on Apple TV+ next week, allows one to imagine what Julianne Moore and John Lithgow could have done with an '80s David Mamet screenplay like "House of Games" or "The Spanish Prisoner."It's one of those narrative jigsaw puzzles that feels like it went from theatrical feature to streaming series sometime ...

  3. Sharper (film)

    Sharper was released in select theaters in the United States on February 10, 2023, by A24, and was released on Apple TV+ on February 17, 2023. Reception. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 142 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6

  4. 'Sharper' Review: Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan in Apple TV+ Thriller

    Sharper, an A24 and Apple TV+ psychological thriller starring Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan, opens with a love story.A graduate student named Sandra (Briana Middleton) walks into a used ...

  5. Sharper review

    The movie begins in the most sublimely innocent way: in a sleepy antiquarian New York bookstore. Gentle bibliophile Tom (Justice Smith), sits behind the counter reading Edgar Allan Poe, and looks ...

  6. Sharper review

    Benjamin Caron's Sharper is a looping, teasing long con of a movie that traces its DNA back to David Mamet's quick-witted hustlers and Anjelica Huston's gloriously ruthless matriarch in ...

  7. Sharper Is a Wickedly Good Thriller That Reminds Us of Better Days

    Is a Wickedly Good Thriller That Reminds Us of Better Days. Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, and others play a very fun con game. The new con-artist thriller Sharper is arriving in theaters on ...

  8. Sharper Review: A Sleek and Seductive Scammer Thriller That ...

    is a Sleek and Seductive Thriller That Keeps You Guessing. Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan burn up the screen in the neo-noir thriller that plays the long con. One regular afternoon, a bookstore ...

  9. Sharper: release date, trailer, cast and everything we know

    Sharper reviews — what the critics are saying. Sharper is getting a mixed response from critics, but as of Friday, February 10, it has a "Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, right on the border with 60%.. Here are a couple of snippets from reviews for the thriller: Jake Coyle, Associated Press: "A slinky, slick caper that finds ways to distort expectations while unfolding a puzzle-box ...

  10. Sharper (2023)

    Sharper: Directed by Benjamin Caron. With Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, Briana Middleton. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned to chaos as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires.

  11. 'Sharper' Review: The Big Con

    Directed by Benjamin Caron. Crime, Drama, Thriller. R. 1h 56m. Find Tickets. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission ...

  12. Sharper Review

    Sebastian Stan. Julianne Moore. John Lithgow. After New York bookstore owner Tom (Justice Smith) falls in love with customer Sandra (Briana Middleton), his life changes — in more ways than ...

  13. Sharper, review: Julianne Moore does a superb job in this sleek scam

    Sharper manages a half-thesis on wealth, bitterness, trust, and entitlement, which puts it a little in league with Succession or The White Lotus. The film glides through Richard's Fifth Avenue ...

  14. Review

    Review by Michael O'Sullivan. February 8, 2023 at 11:35 a.m. EST. Briana Middleton, left, and Justice Smith in "Sharper." (Apple TV Plus/A24) ... The con-game thriller is a cerebral movie ...

  15. Sharper

    Sharper - Metacritic. Summary A con artist takes on Manhattan's billionaires in a drama that unfolds within the secrets of New York City, from the penthouses of Fifth Avenue to the shadowy corners of Queens. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned upside down when nothing is as it seems. [Apple]

  16. Sharper Review: A Terrific Cast Holds Up Sleek Yet Predictable Con Thriller

    Published Feb 16, 2023. Sharper is a sleek and twisty neo-noir riff on scammers that skimps on chaos and settles for a neat ending that leaves something to be desired. Julianne Moore in Sharper. A " sharper ," as told in the opening credits of the A24 and Apple collaboration aptly titled Sharper, is " someone who lives by their wits.

  17. 'Sharper' Review: Sebastian Stan Runs Cons in ...

    Sharper utilizes the cons later in the film less as full scenes on their own to show off character skill and more as a vehicle that barrels us toward the desired ending faster. It feels like a cop ...

  18. Sharper Review

    Verdict. While Sharper is visually stylish and is driven by some excellent performances from Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, and Brianna Middleton, this con-artist thriller overuses the same plot ...

  19. Sharper review

    Summary. Sharper forgets the cardinal rule regarding the con artist film genre — the third act cannot be overshadowed by what transpired before it. Directed by Benjamin Caron, we review the 2023 Apple TV+ film Sharper, which does not contain spoilers. Movies that feature the trials and tribulations of conmen and women can range from slick to ...

  20. Sharper (2023) Movie Review

    Sharper is a very hard sell purely as a thriller film about grifters enabling each other in a match of chess. The wealth of movies today that exploit this narrative choice does not give an original look to Sharper. Since it lacks the signature A24 punch, Benjamin Caron deftly ties his story up in little cues and dialogues that characters say.

  21. Sharper Trailer

    Rotten Tomatoes · January 13, 2023 · Follow. Watch the first trailer for A24's #Sharper, starring Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan. Comments. Most relevant  Katalin Popjak. Hmmm ...