Jinx (Nick Stahl) is locked in the bank vault with sarcastic Jessica (Erika Christensen) tied up. He's ranting about bank service charges but he only wants his $20. Then she receives a call from Simon (Gavin Rossdale). He's the bank robber and he wants his cohort Jessica to open the vault. Police officer DeGepse (Terry Crews) is outside wondering what's going on.Stahl and Christensen tries a bit of quirky rom-com but that mostly fails. It's trying hard with few resulting laughs. Then there is the heist scheme. It makes very little sense. It seems more reasonable for Jinx to hold up in the vault which leads to the big problem with the ending. It makes even less sense than the original scheme. It's a movie that can't be dissected logically. I like the two leads and they keep this movie from completely crashing.

The first thing I did after watching this film was take it to my friends house and watch it again. I was so taken up with the cast the witty lines and the hand to mouth existence that the main character personifies. The acting was superb with the feelings of each character portrayed so well that it's almost impossible to take your eyes off the screen. The timing of each line was done so masterfully you're drawn even further into the story. I've read some of the other reviews and I honestly believe that this film is worth far more than they're giving. It's lighthearted nature, range of believable and identifiable characters as well as the sheer brilliance of its time and pacing has made this one of my favorite films of all time.

"How to Rob a Bank" is a low-budget oddity in which a young private citizen (Nick Stahl) gets accidentally locked in a bank vault with a hot-and-sexy would-be robber (Erika Christensen). The trick is it's hard to tell whose side young Jinx is really on - the bank robbers' who are holding the employees and customers hostage on the other side of the steel door, or the cops', led by Officer Degepse (Terry Crews of "Everybody Hates Chris"), who are stuck outside the bank trying to defuse the situation. Jinx is a customer mightily ticked off at how banks literally nickel-and-dime their depositors at every opportunity - and it is anger at this outrage that may inspire him to shift his loyalties to the malefactors in the final stretch.Written and directed by Andrews Jenkins, the movie earns more points for creativity than it does for execution. The story is often needlessly gimmicky and confusing, the direction unpolished and lacking in finesse, and the performances low on subtlety and shading (though Stahl is very good). Plus, what with its made-on-the-cheap appearance, collection of pseudo-profundities and single-set mise-en-scene, "How to Rob a Bank" definitely has a film-school-project feel to it.Still, it's kind of fun watching the movie turn the bank-robbery formula on its head, particularly in its blurring of the lines between the hostages and the hostage-takers, the law-breakers and the law-enforcers. Plus, for a little added kick, it has the late David Carradine appearing in a cameo role right at the closing moments.

How this was ever turned into a movie I honestly have no idea. What is even more amazing is the excellent cast would have anything to do with it. Nick Stahl, Erika Christensen, Gavin Rossdale, & Terry Crews are all quite talented, too bad they have nothing good for them to do. This reminded me of a a failed TV pilot that just wasn't any good so it wasn't aired. I respect what the writer/director was trying to do, sorry he failed miserably. This made a total of 1K in theaters then to video, and for good reason it sucks. Please don't bother wasting your time or your money with this very good looking (the cinematography is looks great) yet utterly pointless & extremely boring film.