The summer season continues to go well with the addition of The Italian Job, a fun and suspenseful heist movie that has everything that a good movie needs. Mark Wahlberg, Ed Norton, Charlize Theron, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def and Donald Sutherland star.

The Italian Job plays out as such: A group of thieves pull off a great heist in Venice, only to be betrayed by one of their team members (Norton) and have the gold taken from them. In the process, their founding father (Sutherland) is killed. A year later, they reunite and enlist the help of Sutherland's daughter (Theron), a whiz at cracking safes, to get back at Norton and take back the money. What ensues is one of the most elaborate heists ever conceived.

It is interesting to note that this is Wahlberg's second straight crime movie, and he was named Charlie in both of them (the title character of The Truth About Charlie, which flopped at the box office for relatively good reasons). Luckily, The Italian Job is much better, and while it doesn't rival the quality or chemistry of Ocean's Eleven, it comes damn close at times. At other times, it is actually more entertaining.

The Italian Job has everything that makes a good heist movie, minus the countless twists. Some movies pull the many twists at the end off quite well, while others became plagued by them. The Italian Job decides to just do away with them and provide fun and clean entertainment that, aside from the occasional swear word, can be watched and enjoyed by the entire family. It has two great heists, good chemistry between some of the characters, and some thrilling chase scenes.

There were a couple cheesy parts, but for the most part The Italian Job is a solid movie. It also doesn't mind having fun with itself; Seth Green really shines here. That pretty much says it all.

Not much more can be said about The Italian Job other than that it has the vast potential of becoming the sleeper hit of the summer, and hopefully it will. It is a delight to watch and can definitely be experienced more than once.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.