A heist caper that couldn’t steal a good review hoodwinks the streaming ranks

When done right, the breezy heist comedy is always worth checking out when you want to kick back and relax to something that’s equal parts undemanding and entertaining, but when it goes horrendously wrong, though, you end up with something like 2018’s The Con Is On.

There was plenty of talent in front of the camera, but director James Oakley ended up going zero-for-two behind it. The filmmaker’s first feature The Devil You Know was shot in 2005 but didn’t release for another eight years, while his sophomore effort (that took either five or 13 years to arrive depending on how you look at it) scored a big fat zero on Rotten Tomatoes.

Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Maggie Q, Parker Posey, Alice Eve, Sofia Vergara, and Stephen Fry are all capable and fully deserving of much better than this, and once the reviews arrived to indicate that not a single critic enjoyed The Con Is On, it became perfectly clear why Lionsgate had opted to pull back on a theatrical release in favor of an on-demand rollout, with a mere $220,000 being rustled up from multiplexes.

However, streaming subscribers with their expectations set suitably low appear to be enjoying The Con Is On, at least based on how the unanimously panned feature is performing this weekend. As per FlixPatrol, the forgotten crime caper tracking Thurman and Roth’s con artist couple concocting a plot to steal enough jewels to keep them out of debt (and trouble) with the mob has become one of the most-watched titles on Prime Video, for reasons that remain unknown and inexplicable.