I notice art in other people’s offices when I visit there and I go to art museums when I have extra time on a business trip. I enjoy my art and I love the inspiration I get from taking in other people’s art. Museums are wonderful places.

To be a museum security guard must be the most boring job in the world. Have you watched the men and women that stand around in art museums, in uniforms, ties, quiet, alone, never talking to others unless asked by a visitor for directions to the bathroom, mostly? I cannot imagine doing a single 8-hour-shift of this, except the first one, and perhaps the second and third one, until I was done looking at all the art.

The Maiden Heist is packed with first-rate actors, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William Macy and Marcia Gay Harden, all academy award winners or nominees. If it hadn’t been for that lineup, I might have passed on this movie, but with those names, I could  not help but give in to my curiosity.

Three men, Charles, Roger and George, are security guards in an art museum. Each has his favorite work of art, and each is instantly hypnotized and mesmerized when in front of it. The works have captured the men and now we understand how they can go to work every day and do this job. They are the model of honest men and stewards of their entrusted art. Then they learn that the museum is preparing for an exchange of works with a museum in Denmark, and their favorite art is scheduled to leave. Since they cannot bear this they find themselves plotting an unlikely plan to steal the works.

This is a light comedy. You will laugh, chuckle and be amused. Some of the humor is almost slapstick-like and you shake your head but you accept it. Lesser actors could not pull this off. But this cast does it so well and makes the characters become so real, that it becomes a story well told. There is no important message here, no huge suspense, just a cute little story that leads to satisfying entertainment when you need a couple of hours off because you have a cold and you need something to watch while spooning up chicken soup.

Rating: **