Stylish but barely mediocre overall

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Basically, a private school filled with rich twats and silly teachers disconnected from reality, is taken over by a computer genius and his armed thugs, as a part of a much bigger robbery heist. However, one of the school kids, who is also a computer genius and the social outcast, manages to evade capture and makes the lives of the bad guys a living hell. In other words, it's basically Home Alone, just taking place in a school and instead of mechanical contraptions you get computer gimmicks.I caught this movie one lazy afternoon on TV, and despite its childish dialogues, unrealistic portrayal of computers and other miscellaneous things that characterize a bad movie, it still made me laugh and spend a pleasant 90 minutes. Don't expect much as far as acting goes, and it doesn't help that 90% of the cast is either a stereotypical unimaginative mercenary hired by the bad guy, or a stereotypical unimaginative student/teacher, with the addition of a few stereotypical unimaginative cops (and soldiers at one point). Patrick Stewards certainly does a good job as the bad guy, but he knows this film is not going anywhere and it shows. He's just there having fun.The people who made this obviously had no idea what actual computers look like or how they work, or at least they made the assumption that the audience wouldn't know the difference, as is the norm for 80s and 90s movies (as well as plenty today). Particularly weird, is a scene at the beginning, where Oswald Paxton (the protagonist) is trying to pirate a game before its release and the security system of the company he's trying to hack into makes him play a racing mini-game, where he has to make it to the exit of a long corridor piled with skeletons coming out of closets, at which point he is granted access to the game files. "Oh brave hacker, pass the test and we shall see if you are worthy to pirate our game. Only the chosen one will distribute our game for free".At any rate, its certainly enjoyable. The dialogue, although badly written, is actually quite funny and the gags are also. The plot also isn't that bad, as you aren't informed on what the bad guys are actually trying to steal, but you get pieces of information as the film progresses and is revealed at the end, which is something that kept my attention. Also, seeing Patrick Stewart as the bad guy was actually pretty fun, and you get plenty of action too. 6/10

We've seen movies about crafty teenagers playing a cat-and-mouse game with thieves so many times that it all gets blurred. But "Masterminds" is pretty entertaining. When shyster Rafe Bentley (a mustachioed Patrick Stewart) takes a school hostage, troublemaker Oswald Paxton (Vincent Kartheiser) decides to make Rafe's life a living hell. In a way, the movie is mostly a series of gags, but well done gags. This movie probably won't have any major effect on the cinematic landscape, but it doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't. It's pure, unadulterated fun.Maybe if thieves ever take over a place, I'll just use some of the gags that I learned from "Masterminds".

i loved this movie, not only because i love Vincent Kartheiser, but because I liked the movie in a whole the script was entertaining and the things the character did were just so crafty, so well thought out it was kind of like home alone in a sense. A kid taking on an adult, outsmarting him. i enjoyed watching it. i would recommend it.

I first saw this movie on cable, and loved it. After that i saw it a few more times, and each time noticed a little someting more new. Adults (over 25) may think of this as a foolish or dull movie, but it was not targeted towards them. It was targeted towards the high schooler who wishes something like this could happen so that he could feel better about himself. Each individual part is very well acted, and adjusted to work with the acting styles of the other actors. The harmony among the actors is impresive to say the least. V. Kartheizer is an actor that very few have heard of, but the work he does is outstanding. If you are looking for a movie to see on a friday night, this is it.