Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers
| Release Date: July 31, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The GuardianMike McCahillSep 26, 2013
The casefile remains open, but this considered investigation matches the Panthers' bravura with an organisational flair of its own. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinAug 21, 2013
The world's most successful ring of diamond thieves is inventively and insightfully explored in the documentary Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeAug 1, 2013
The movie's most exciting when the precision and jaw-dropping nerve of the gang holds center stage. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineWes GreeneJul 26, 2013
It occasionally succumbs to the pitfalls of the mock-thriller kitsch it slyly dismantles, but it's made up for in a wry and experimental visual style that satirically paints a vibrant crime fantasia. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 5, 2013
The doc breezily sketches out the process of casing, smashing, grabbing, escaping, and fencing, not in as much detail as David Samuels's stellar New Yorker piece on the Panthers a couple years back, but with some added pathos. Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasAug 1, 2013
Marking does an admirable job of ceding centerstage to the Panthers without letting the film turn soft or letting her subjects turn themselves into latter-day Robin Hoods. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJul 31, 2013
You can’t make this stuff up. But Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers would be fascinating even if it wasn’t so timely. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldJul 30, 2013
Smash and Grab has a grating, repetitive score and can look a little homely on the big screen. But unlike many true-crime accounts, it cherry-picks its material successfully and preserves the conspiratorial sense that we’re learning the ins and outs of an illicit art. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 22, 2013
It’s a fascinating inside look, made all the more thrilling by Marking’s access to actual Pink Panthers. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichJul 30, 2013
Smash & Grab aims to replicate the mesmeric tension of a Michael Mann thriller (the crime-cinema impresario is even explicitly referenced by one of the cops assigned to hunt down the group), though the film is so all over the place stylistically that it often seems like several different movies cut together. Read full review
60
The DissolveNoel MurrayJul 30, 2013
Marking...does her best to keep it lively, mixing in actual security-camera footage and animated re-creations, along with pieces of old tourist promotions, newsreels, and industrial films. But Smash & Grab’s overall tone is too reserved, given the subject matter. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNick SchagerJul 30, 2013
Coupled with a failure to comprehensively detail tactical patterns or the processes of transporting or fencing stolen goods, Smash & Grab’s inability to truly get underneath the surface of its subjects renders it merely a compelling true-life tale in need of better telling. Read full review
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