Coin Heist (2017)

United by dire circumstances, four unlikely allies from a Philadelphia prep school - the hacker, the slacker, the athlete, and the perfect student - band together to attempt the impossible: steal from the U.S. Mint.

Director:

Emily Hagins

Writers:

Emily Hagins (screen writer), Elisa Ludwig (based on a novel by)

Stars:

Alex Saxon, Alexis G. Zall, Sasha Pieterse

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alex Saxon	...	Jason
Alexis G. Zall	...	Alice
Sasha Pieterse	...	Dakota
Jay Walker	...	Benny
Michael Cyril Creighton	...	Mr. Rankin
Zach Broussard	...	Tony
Craig Walker	...	Nico
Slate Holmgren	...	Horace
Will Denton	...	Dylan
David W. Thompson	...	Greg
Mark Blum	...	Mr. Smerconish
Olivia Birkelund	...	Mrs. Hodges
Connor Ratliff	...	Mr. Garcia
Muhammad Cunningham	...	Ethan
Alex Maizus	...	Chaddie

Storyline

United by dire circumstances, four unlikely allies from a Philadelphia prep school - the hacker, the slacker, the athlete, and the perfect student - band together to attempt the impossible: steal from the U.S. Mint.

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Plot Keywords:

hacker | prep school | garage band | field trip | dance | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Family

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 January 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

A golpe de monedas

Filming Locations:

White Plains New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Adaptive Studios,Netflix

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on a novel that, in turn, was based on a screenplay.

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Connections

Features Gambit (1966)

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Soundtracks

Brothers, Sisters, Lovers, Etc.
by Rain collectors

User Reviews

Great Setup/Acting, But Fizzles As It Comes To Finish Line

There are enough things inherent in "Coin Heist" that it really shouldn't work. The plot is outlandish, the ending descends into schmaltz, and (at heart) it's a teen coming-of-age drama (not like there are any of those floating around these days). However, despite all the unevenness and clichés, "Coin Heist" still manages to at least be entertaining due to the great acting and slickness of the setup.

For a basic plot summary (no spoilers), "Coin Heist" sees Jason (Alex Saxon) struggling with the reality that his father has been stealing from his high school's endowment, leaving the father in prison and the school in danger of shutting down. After a field trip to the U.S. mint, however, Jason's friend Alice (Alexis G. Zall), a hacker at heart and in skill, devises a plan to infiltrate the mint and print some rare coins that can be sold to save the school. The plan will only work, however, if they can also rope in organization queen Dakota (Sasha Pieterse) and outsider Benny (Jay Walker).

For the first half or so of "Coin Heist", I was invested in the characters and their mission. The producers do a great job of setting up the backgrounds of each character, and I really felt like they could be real high-schoolers. Sure, their mission is highly improbable, but that's what cinema is all about, right?!

The problem, however, is that after that roughly half-way point my investment really started to wane for two reasons:

1. The build-up to the caper was much more interesting than the caper itself; and 2. I felt that the ending descending into a bit too much hijinx and corniness for my liking. I realize this is a film directed at teens, so perhaps it plays a bit better to that demographic, but for an older viewer it seemed like a bit of a letdown to build up these great characters and then have them, in most cases, succumb to the tropes of the genre I was afraid would happen from the get-go.

So, while I can easily give "Coin Heist" a slightly-better-than-average 6 out of 10 stars here, I feel that it failed to take that "next step" into the greatness range due to its "running out of steam" in the latter portion. The target audience (teens) may disagree with me here, of course.