\n\tThere are few true crime stories worthier of being filed under \u201cYou Can\u2019t Make This Sh*t Up\u201d than 2003\u2019s totally bizarro \u201cPizza Bomber\u201d case, in which a pair of Erie, Pennsylvania, residents conspired to rob a bank by recruiting a pizza delivery driver to pose as a hostage who showed up at the tellers\u2019 window with a fake \u201ccollar bomb\u201d locked to his neck. To say the heist didn\u2019t go as planned is an understatement \u2014 shortly after the would-be robber was apprehended by the police, the bomb nevertheless detonated, instantly killing him.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe twisty, tangled chain of events that preceded and followed the incident were documented in the four-part 2018 Netflix series, Evil Genius: The True Sory of America\u2019s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. Now, thanks to an impressive turn by Courteney Cox<\/a> in her second feature stint behind the camera, it\u2019s a wildly devious, perfectly pitched black comedy pairing a fearlessly gung-ho Patricia Arquette<\/a> in the role of chief conspirator Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and an equally invested David Harbour<\/a> (barely recognizable under a big, bushy grey beard and thick glasses) as her brainiac partner in crime, Bill Rothstein.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tEvil Genius\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n \tFiendishly entertaining.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tVenue: Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations) \n\tHanded its world premiere at TIFF as yet unattached to a distributor, the film could be a good fit in the right hands, especially if the marketing plays up the \u201cso crazy it must be seen to be believed\u201d angle.<\/p>\n \n\tLittle do the police realize, when they get a frantic payphone call from Rothstein about a body in Diehl-Armstrong\u2019s freezer, that it\u2019s literally the tip of the iceberg where the former couple\u2019s larcenous, double-crossing ways are concerned.<\/p>\n \n\tFlashback several months earlier to her plot to have her father (David Rasche) killed for emptying her late mother\u2019s safety deposit box of the $1 million she contends was promised to her. In order to raise the money necessary to pay for the hit, she pitches her still-smitten ex on a bank heist, but Rothstein protests, \u201cWe can\u2019t rob a bank. I\u2019m 60 and you\u2019re not Thelma or Louise.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEnter the unwitting pizza delivery man (Tom McCarthy), whose neck just happens to be the perfect size to fit Rothstein\u2019s convincing collar bomb, and their nefarious scheme starts clicking into gear.<\/p>\n
Cast: Patricia Arquette, David Harbour, Michael Chernus, Garret Dillahunt, Ryan Eggold, Gregory Alan Williams, Tom McCarthy, Owen Teague
Screenwriter: Courtenay Miles
Director: Courteney Cox
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 34 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n