Written by: Brian Gatewood & Alessandro Tanaka
Starring: Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, Briana Middleton, John Lithgow
Rating: [2.5/5]
When watching films centered on con artists, a general conceit stands where we have to believe the characters carry a baseline level of intelligence. After all they could not possibly get away with the things they do without being more clever than those they seek to dupe. Sharper begins with this establishment only to have it completely fall apart by the end in the most hilarious ways that in a sense invalidates the entire film.
Beginning a bright and exciting relationship, Sandra (Briana Middleton) meets Tom (Justice Smith) but they face an issue where Sandra needs to produce $350,000 in order to save her brother from his debtors. Having a very wealthy father, Tom assists in obtaining the money but finds that Sandra has mysteriously disappeared in what appears to be a major con pulled on him.
Starting with one con that devolves into more cons within another con creates quite the web to detangle, requiring for the individuals behind the feature to handle meticulously. For us to believe half of what transpires here, there needs to be some careful weaving of these threads, which this film certainly accomplishes in the first act of the film. We know twists and reveals will eventually occur here but we just need to wait and see how it gets delivered and ultimately if it will satisfy.
As we start the narrative we begin in the middle of a con unknowingly with the rest of the film further piecing together the past and the future of this larger con going on. At first, it certainly has clever elements as we learn of all the players involved and how this follows more than just Sandra and Tom’s story, especially when we add characters such as Madeline (Julianne Moore) and Max (Sebastian Stan). How they fold into the plan certainly begins to build this larger web, unveil the real plot at hand, and it certainly brings us into something with much promise.
However, where Sharper loses its footing comes from its attempt to land the plane and pull one last con on the characters, but also the audience as well. While I give them credit in trying to pull one last twist, it gets telegraphed so easily when watching this all play out. I’m sure a child could watch this movie, see how this narrative attempts to play out and point out exactly what will transpire while the film tries to play it off as something that should wow the audience. Again, not every great con film needs to have this devastatingly brilliant reveal to succeed but when having something this painfully obvious and then having these supposed master con artists fall for it right before our eyes, it somewhat invalidates everything we saw before. It then begs the question of if the writers behind the film actually thought they were doing something clever, or they wanted to dumb down their characters at the most critical moment. I am not sure which one is worse but neither allows for this film to necessarily succeed.
This narrative bungle really is a shame considering the film certainly has plenty to appreciate with its polished presentation and characters that certainly build some intrigue. The characters get paired up with some strong actors and Julianne Moore unsurprisingly outshines everyone in her portrayal of the conniving Madeline who sits in as the ultimate web designer in pulling these cons only for it to fall apart for her. For a film that went straight to streaming, it certainly has a production value befitting the attempt but it just could not land the plane properly, unfortunately.
Ultimately a somewhat fun but deeply flawed twisty ride, Sharper has the foundation and elements of a film that sets the stage for something wholly enjoyable but this need to further trick the audience and its characters serves as the death knell to any chance it had at success. The third act completely undoes all of the positive groundwork laid out and falls into the trap of other subpar con artist films of setting far too many twists that make none of the rest of the narrative make sense but it hopes we forget about that because it wows us with one final reveal.
Films with Josh 
