“Crime 101” is characterized as a neo-noir by its creators in their press notes. While there are aspects of this film that meet that description, the movie suffers from a confusion over whether it wants to be a crime caper, a romance, or a police procedural. Bolstered by an all-star cast, several of them have virtually no screen time. Only the performances of Halle Berry and Mark Ruffalo stand out.

“Crime 101” has three main story arcs. The first is that of Davis (Chris Hemsworth), a gentleman jewel thief. We see him abduct a courier, follow the men with the jewels for a delivery and then rob them at gunpoint. What he doesn’t realize is that a hotshot has another hidden gun. When he attempts to shoot Davis, the driver’s side window is shattered (and, as we later find out, blood is left from a slight cut to Davis). Davis escapes via the 101 highway, which is his M.O.

Later when Chris meets his mentor/fence, Money (Nick Nolte), Chris talks about backing out of a job in Santa Barbara. Chris dislikes violence and the latest caper has scared him.

We know nothing of Chris’s past life at this point and he seems like a cipher. We discover that he hires prostitutes and lives in expensive apartments. One night a woman named Maya (Monica Barbaro) rear-ends him. He gets her phone number and asks for a date. A diffident, due to Chris’s remoteness, relationship ensues.

The second arc is that of Sharon (Halle Berry). We see her wake up as an app informs here that she has slept poorly. We see her apply makeup. Next she is out at the home of a billionaire, Monroe (Tate Donovan, who delightfully chews the scenery), where she is trying to land the contract to insure his wedding and the wedding gifts. Monroe makes her shoot a gun but is clearly not going to agree to let her insure him.

At the office, she lies about her lack of success. She pressures a partner to commit to making her a partner. It is clear that this is not going to happen. Later, at a meeting, she meets a new younger co-worker, who of course will be celebrated when she lands the wedding contract with Monroe.

Later she again requests to know when she will be made partner. She has worked 11 years for the company. When she threatens to go to a competitor, her boss informs her that she is 53 and unhireable due to her age.

The third arc is that of Lou (Mark Ruffalo), a cop working for L.A.P.D. He and his partner Tillman (Corey Hawkins) go to the scene of Davis’s last job and interview the victims. Lou has become obsessed with the idea that several jewel heists are being committed by the same person. Because they are all near the 101, this provides Lou with what he is convinced is a clue that can be used to predict future robberies and apprehend the culprit.

None of this sits well with the Department. They prefer to close crimes to improve their statistics. Lou’s refusal to conform and obsession with the 101 Robber is dragging his colleagues down. Tillman tells Lou that he has been asked to get another partner as Lou is strangling his advancement with his mania about the 101 Robber.

How will these three stories end up intersecting and what will be the outcome?

I was truly looking forward to this picture. I couldn’t believe all of the big-name actors who had agreed to appear in this project. But from the beginning of the story, there were problems. Hemsworth’s performance was so stock and wooden that I was dumbstruck. This doesn’t improve as the film goes on. We eventually learn about his past, as if this is some kind of justification for phoning in a performance. Even when he is with Maya, he projects zero humanness. I could never figure out why she put up with him.

In the first act of the film, there is quite a bit of jumping between the 3 main characters. You know virtually nothing about them. The absence of background led to a separation from caring about them. So Halle Berry is applying makeup on in a scene and she is at some billionaire’s house. Who is she really?

Then there is the waste of talent in casting Nick Nolte and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Nick Nolte’s story is never shared and if he is on screen for more than a total of 15 minutes, I would be surprised. Jennifer fares no better with her brief scenes as Lou’s long-suffering wife Angie.

The picture’s wandering from character to character led to a feeling of the film dragging. For example, the protracted scene where Lou lays out an argument for his colleagues about the 101 Robber and then gets upbraided by his boss is just boring. We already went down that road.

The real problem is when the movie wanted to be a relationship movie. This ties up too neatly for my sensibilities at the end. Too many scenes are wasted on the Maya-Davis romance, if you can call it that. There is too little intimacy and sharing to make this work. Nor did I care if it worked. The brief possibility between Lou and Sharon was more believable and seemed more integrated as a possible development. This picture should have been a mini-series if these angles are to be pursued alongside the crime story.

But then there is the great acting of Halle Berry and Mark Ruffalo. Watching them is to have a masterclass in acting. Their performances seem effortless and their subtleties in creating their characters is superb. Berry being willing to appear without makeup for the scene where she applies makeup speaks volumes about her commitment to the role. She embodies every older woman who has been used and then discarded due to age. She can be joyful, discouraged, frightened and hopeful.

Ruffalo easily projects world-weariness with his role as a police officer. He no longer dresses stylishly and drives a run-down heap. He wants to get the real culprit not just create positive statistics for the department. He also projects empathy for Sharon and even Davis at one point. I felt tired just watching him go through the monotony of his day-to-day life.

Ultimately there are elements of romance, a crime caper and a police procedural in this film. None of them are executed well. Two great performances make this film worth watching.

Three out of five stars

Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, CRIME 101 weaves the tale of an elusive thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose high-stakes heists unfolding along the iconic 101 freeway have mystified police. When he eyes the score of a lifetime with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads, forcing the two to collaborate. Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher. As the multimillion-dollar heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur, and all three are forced to confront the cost of their choices–and the realization that there’s no turning back.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh with Nick Nolte and Halle Berry
Directed by Bart Layton
Screenplay by Bart Layton
Based on the Novella by Don Winslow