Crime 101 is both ageless and of the moment: a sleek, intoxicating knockout from writer-director Bart Layton, who pulls source material from Don Winslow. Layton, best known for his merging of fact and fiction in American Animals and The Imposter, goes full-on genre here: exciting neo-noir that's breezy and ultra cool. A hand-crafted love letter to Los Angeles and all its high-gloss, high-stakes way of life.
From its opening moments, steered by the novella’s sharp thesis, “Laws are made to be broken, with rules that are made to be followed,” the tone is set. This is a place where morals can be bargained, dreams turn into money, and everyone finds themselves longing for something just beyond their grasp.
Crime 101 is set against the sun-bleached glass and grit of L.A. The story is about, Davis, an elusive jewel thief played by Chris Hemsworth, whose string of daring heists along the 101 freeway has mystified police. When Davis is about to make the score of his life, Sharon crosses his path. She is a disillusioned insurance broker played by Halle Berry, who is standing at her own occupational crossroads.
A persistent detective (Mark Ruffalo) who believes he has cracked the thief’s code starts closing in. As the big heist draws closer, it becomes difficult to determine who is hunting and who is being hunted. All three of them have to make choices that will define their lives with the sad realization that there is no turning back.
Layton’s film plays like an homage to sophisticated thrillers of yesteryear — think Michael Mann’s Thief, The Sting, or 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair — while never feeling derivative. Instead, it embraces the nuts-and-bolts pleasures of a classic crime thriller: precise planning, razor-sharp editing, and white-knuckle car chases that zoom down the freeways like steel and rubber predators. Yet what makes Crime 101 truly unique is that it’s less about the mechanics of theft and more about the people who orchestrate it. It is a story about those who operate outside the law, quietly violate societal norms, or take what they believe is theirs… cops and thieves alike.
Hemsworth is magnetic. He exchanges his hero strut for a more tranquil internal intensity. His Davis is deliberate and wily, although not immune to weakness and vulnerability. Berry matches him beat for beat with a multi-layered performance that is as much cynicism as it is determination.
Ruffalo is excellent as Lou, the Columbo-esque lead detective in charge of the investigation. He’s deceptively smart and kind of slovenly, but he's also quietly relentless. You'll expect him to mumble, “Oh, just one more thing,” under his breath as he pitters around the crime scene. It’s fun to watch him play the long game as he eyes his target with careful planning. Nolte pitches in quite admirably as “Money,” the gravel-voiced mastermind making plans from the shadows, speaking each word with weight and world-weariness. Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, and Jennifer Jason Leigh also lend weight to the story by adding their own emotional depth.
Though about 15 minutes too long, the film’s plot is the hero here. It is rich and elaborate, but surprisingly straightforward. It could have been one of those overly-complicated webs of shifting timelines and convoluted narratives, but Layton pulls every player into the same tightening web of betrayals, double-crosses, changing loyalties, and moral question marks until the tension becomes almost unbearable. A white-knuckle car chase through the streets of L.A. becomes an instant classic, but it’s the quiet showdowns — the stares, the pauses, and the backstabs — that stick.
And then there’s the perfect use of Bruce Springsteen’s “Jersey Girl”—maybe the best use of a Springsteen song ever. It drives home the movie’s heartbreaking love story, showing that even bad guys can have tender dreams.
Crime 101 doesn’t try to get cute with genre. It knows exactly what it is - a game of cat-and-mouse dipped in California cool as it plays out with confidence and style. The result is a crime thriller that feels both classic and contemporary: glossy, grounded, and utterly irresistible.
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 139 mins
Director: Bart Layton
Writer: Bart Layton
Cast: Chris Hemsworth; Mark Ruffalo; Barry Keoghan
Genre: Heist | Crime
Tagline: One Heist Connects Them All
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: MGM/ Amazon
Official Site:
Release Date: February 13, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: An elusive thief, eyeing his final score, encounters a disillusioned insurance broker at her own crossroads. As their paths intertwine, a relentless detective trails them hoping to thwart the multi-million dollar heist they are planning.
