When an easy kidnapping goes really wrong

New on circuit: LIFE OF CRIME Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins Director: Daniel Schechter Rating: ★★★✩✩ characters in Life of Crime suffer, coming across as anaemic versions of themselves – or at least the “selves” that we remember.

Life of Crime concerns the kidnapping of a crooked businessman’s wife, Mickey (Jennifer Aniston), by Louis and Ordell.

They are aided in their plot by a racist, neo-Nazi nutjob (Mark Boone jr), whose role is mainly as a comic foil. That Ordell is black and Mickey Jewish is mined for laughs that don’t quite materialise.

The kink in the cable is that Mickey’s husband (Tim Robbins) doesn’t really want his wife back, as he is involved with another woman (Isla Fisher) and has just filed for divorce. So much for the ransom.

This set-up could conceivably generate some of the antic criminality for which Leonard is famous.

But Schechter’s slackly spun tale proceeds with little urgency.

That said, there are some giggles to be had in the visuals, which subtly evoke the film’s late-1970s setting. The flared trousers, embarrassing hairdos and giant sunglasses alone are worth a smile.

Will Forte, sporting a porn-star moustache and long sideburns, is amusing enough as a man with a crush on Mickey, but that relationship, like most of the others in the film, doesn’t go anywhere.

Life of Crime feels like a rambling car ride through the countryside with friends.

The scenery is great, and the passengers are diverting, but you keep wondering where the driver is headed.

That’s why it’s such a surprise when the film manages to pull off a great twist ending.

Life of Crime may be no prequel, but in its last few seconds, the kicker makes it feel like the movie is just getting started.