Thriving on theft while thoroughly thwarting thugs, therefore breaking the threshold for the thickening plot in another thousandth theory on the theme

How to Rob is an independent film produced on a micro-budget all about two cops, who are partners and friends, that steal from criminals on the side. One is trying to get out of the crime game and leave town for a fresh start while their past catches up to them. Will the two friends do the right thing?

Written and directed by Peter Horgan, it’s got a high-speed pace so the discussions in between the action don’t drag on too long. Things slow down just enough before picking up speed again. The action scenes are competently shot considering the low budget. There are very ingenious applications to the filmmaking aspect presented throughout the film. Handheld cameras are used to follow people moving down long corridors or around corners. Car chases are shot from inside the vehicles in the passenger seat. Even the conversations when people are sitting in rooms together seem like the person filming is sitting right next to the actors. I still don’t fully understand why anyone was after them in the first place though. They’re established early on to be petty criminals and all of a sudden their public enemy number one for the mob? It could have used more explanation.

Chinaza Uche plays Sean Price. He’s the one attempting to turn his life around. He’s good as the straight man to his offbeat partner. Joshua Koopman plays Jimmy Winters. He’s charismatic as the wise-cracking, fast-talking crooked cop who’s perfectly happy with his life the way it is. The duo’s chemistry is delightful. The two of them being lifelong friends is completely believable. They have an interesting dynamic as two compatible companions with very different views on life. I was more interested in this aspect than the main plot about the mafia.

Overall, How to Rob is a generic story we’ve seen a million times before in yet another Boston crime flick that doesn’t put a different spin on it or add anything new so it’s not very interesting or memorable. They couldn’t even pick a different big city. Most of these films take place in either New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, or Boston. Crime does exist outside of those five major cities, after all.

I believe it was attempting to explore themes of male friendship, crime doesn’t pay, and how people should do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. That’s the moral of the story from what I gathered without giving anything away. I’m not entirely sure what the message was supposed to be because the main protagonists act out of character near the climax with unintelligent decisions that are counterintuitive to their personalities established earlier on. It’s frustrating when writers break their own rules. I had the same problem with Scream VI. I’d recommend How to Rob to fans of The Boondock Saints or The Departed. And remember, this film brings new meaning to the phrase partners in crime.