Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson Team up for Crime Comedy ‘Masterminds’

Sandra Miska

In his latest film, Zach Galifianakis sets out to pull out the heist of a lifetime with help from some of the brightest stars in the comedy. “Masterminds” is based on the true story of a 1997 bank robbery at a Loomis Fargo bank in North Carolina where $17.3 million in cash was taken, making it one of the largest such robberies in U.S. history.

Galifianakis plays David Scott Ghantt, a North Carolina man who has big dreams of being an adventurer despite his humble origins and perpetual bad luck. Bored with his job as a night guard at an armored car company, he is lured into robbing a bank by his work crush, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig), and her criminal associate, Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson). He manages to stuff a whopping $17 million in a van but is subsequently forced to hand the loot over to Steve, who uses it to buy a mansion with his wife Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) while David is forced to flee to Mexico.

Eager to tie up loose ends, Steve hires a deranged hit man (Jason Sudeikis) to travel across the border to take out David. What the criminal mastermind doesn’t anticipate is his pawn’s returning home to clear his name of the robbery and win over Kelly.

“Masterminds” was directed and co-written by Jared Hess, the man behind the fan favorite, “Napoleon Dynamite.” Last year saw the release of his tepid religious satire “Don Verdean,” and it remains to be seen if he will recapture the magic of his 2004 feature debut, which became an enduring cult favorite. Although “Masterminds” was filmed over two years ago in North Carolina, its release was pushed back more than once due to the bankruptcy of production company Relativity Media. The film eventually found a home with Universal Pictures.

“Masterminds” opens Sept. 30 nationwide.