{"id":224802,"date":"2026-01-03T07:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/224802\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T07:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:09:12","slug":"charmless-heist-thriller-branded-a-work-of-staggering-stupidity-is-now-trending-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/224802\/","title":{"rendered":"“Charmless” heist thriller branded “a work of staggering stupidity” is now trending in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

High Rollers, the “charmless” heist thriller that has been branded “a work of staggering stupidity”, is now trending in the UK. A sequel to the 2024 film Cash Out, High Rollers sees John Travolta reprise his role from the first film as a master thief named Mason Goddard. <\/p>\n

In the sequel, Mason is tasked with pulling off a dangerous casino heist after his lover Amelia (Gina Gershon) is kidnapped by his nemesis. <\/p>\n

The synopsis reads: “After the dream world of a master thief (Travolta) is shattered by the kidnapping of his beloved (Gina Gershon), his crew must pull off a casino heist to save her life.”<\/p>\n

First released in 2025, the heist film, which was panned by critics, has clearly found a new audience on streaming platforms and is currently the second most-watched film on Prime Video<\/a> in the UK (via FlixPatrol<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Joining Travolta and Gershon in the cast are stars including Lukas Haas, musician Quavo, Natali Yura, Demi\u00e1n Castro and Danny Pardo. <\/p>\n

Almost universally condemned, High Rollers has an abysmally low score of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> from 10 reviews, with critics calling the script “sloppy” and “lacklustre”. <\/p>\n

\"john<\/p>\n

Saban Films<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

“High Rollers is a heart-slowing work of staggering stupidity and charmlessness, ineptly made and quite frankly dull except when its flaws become so egregious you can\u2019t help but guffaw,” penned The Guardian<\/a> in their scathing review. <\/p>\n

Cambridge Day<\/a> wrote: “Travolta, Gershon and especially Castro and Pardo relish and deliver their two-dimensional roles with conviction, which adds a sense of credibility to the scenes they\u2019re in. <\/p>\n

“But there\u2019s uninspired, sloppy plotting and a flaccid script, which is exacerbated by woefully inept direction.”<\/p>\n

Radio Times<\/a> said of the film: “The script, again, remains lacklustre, even if the cast have more of a handle on their characters – and Travolta is clearly enjoying himself.”<\/p>\n

\"john<\/p>\n

Saban Films<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a> <\/p>\n

“A tedious exercise in genre routine, this cheap, forgettable sequel fails to make an impression,” said Spectrum Culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Common Sense Media<\/a> wrote: “Like its predecessor, Cash Out, this heist thriller is almost good, provided you can turn off your brain. It’s light and likable, but it takes too many shortcuts and drops the ball too often.”<\/p>\n

High Rollers is streaming on Prime Video in the UK. <\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating music icon Dolly Parton, is here! Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

Reporter, Digital Spy<\/p>\n

Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV<\/a> and movies<\/a> at Digital Spy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High Rollers, the “charmless” heist thriller that has been branded “a work of staggering stupidity”, is now trending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1105,115728,1107,93,61,60,1135,270,115727],"class_list":{"0":"post-224802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-content-type-news","9":"tag-contentid-96b2297c-2fe9-4ec7-a35c-57fc18e31510","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-locale-gb","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-shorttitle-charmless-heist-thriller-is-trending-in-the-uk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}