merklekranz
"Breaking In" is a very forgettable Burt Reynolds comedy. For a really great Reynolds chuckles film rent "The End". This one falls flat, with just one caper after another, it is very redundant. Not much can be said about the two main characters either. Both fail to elicit sympathy, and in fact Casey Siemaszko as the thief apprentice comes across as more stupid than sympathetic. The ending feels so tacked on, it is bewildering. It is also very unsatisfying, which is not a good way to end what has already been a tedious film experience. Not recommended, even for Burt Reynolds fans.................................. - MERK
Michael Neumann
Burt Reynolds broke out of his leading man pigeonhole to attempt, for once, a more believable role, playing a middle-aged, low-rent burglar who enlists the help of a dumb but loyal grease monkey and then proceeds to give him lessons in both larceny and life. There are a few heists along the way, but this is more a character study than a caper film, and it works in large part because of the rapport and timing between Reynolds and his blue collar sidekick Casey Siemaszko. Both characters are losers, and it might be argued that losers make more engaging heroes, perhaps because they're easier to identify with. In the spirit of earlier Bill Forsythe films it's a slim but disarming comedy, with an extra measure of depth in the canny screenplay by John Sayles, as always the working man's champion, who along the way makes some minor but interesting points about the haves and the have-nots.
Neuro-4
Even though I appreciate Burt's bombastic,snide,cocky,gum chewing persona of old it was fun seeing him as vulnerable and pragmatic. I love caper movies and even though this one is tongue-in-cheek it is quite entertaining. I especially love the cat-burglar genre. Siemaszcko does a nice job of combining the youthful and arrogant with the need for those "coming up" to learn from a mentor. The movie doesn't take itself seriously but provides a good relationship story. Alot of fun if you just let it happen to you without analyzing every aspect. If you liked Siemaszcko in this check him out in Young Guns, and 3 o'clock high.
George Parker
In "Breaking In" Reynold's plays a platitude spouting, aging small time independent safecracker who happens upon a young upstart while on a job, takes him under his wing, and teaches him his trade. A lukewarm comedy which does little more than show us the day to day vicissitudes of the safemen, this flick has little to offer save some mildly humorous moments before an unsatisfying conclusion. Okay for sofa spuds and Reynolds' fans. (C+)
AD
