Kidnapping Mr. Heineken - C

Rated R, 95 minutes
Wes's Grade: C

Crime never seemed so dull in the well-acted but banal "Kidnapping Mr. Heineken"

The well-acted but tedious true crime drama "Kidnapping Mr. Heineken" makes crime seem so bland, which is unfortunate given that the story is a worthy one to be told. It has a few entertaining moments but it seems a surface, unsatisfactory look. In 1983, a group of childhood friends led by Cor van Hout and Willem Holleeder (Jim Sturgess and Sam Worthington) pulled off the crime of the century: kidnapping one of the richest men in the world, the heir of the Heineken beer empire (Anthony Hopkins). The shocking capture--by gunpoint in broad daylight on the streets of Amsterdam--resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for a kidnapped individual. Directed by Daniel Alfredson (who directed two of the Swedish "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" movies) and co-written by William Brookfield and Peter R. de Vries, the latter of whom wrote the novel "The Kidnapping of Alfred Heineken" that the film is based upon, "Kidnapping Mr. Heineken" is a mildly entertaining but sluggish portrait and real story of how some low level criminals hijacked one of the world's most famous men and nearly got away with it. "Mr. Heineken" is nothing new, and many other films have handled the same material much better, but certainly made better by Oscar-winner Hopkins as the titular character, who by far is the most memorable thing about the film, which is too bad given his part is a supporting one, but to his credit he is still a commanding presence in a film that is in need of one. Alfredson's misguided direction doesn't help, especially with the fact that Sturgess and Worthington, while good actors in their own right, aren't strong enough to carry the film or make these criminals interesting in any way. This version of "Mr. Heineken" is also not as near as fascinating as the real story and trial, in which the criminals were eventually caught and tried (this is all factual, in de Vries' novel and not a spoiler); the last act in particular is sluggish and problematic and even at 95 minutes, seems to go on too long. Aside from Hopkins, who's great as usual, "Kidnapping Mr. Heineken" could've been from a better cast and stronger direction that would've made this more interesting. Read up on the real story and skip the movie version (FYI - there's another, more obscure version with Rutger Hauer as Heineken made before this one).