Albeit the presentation of a one-sided argument, The Art of the Steal is nonetheless a captivating tale about the flexibility of the law when money is involved.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 22, 2023

The documentary is fascinating because… it focuses on art at the elite level. [Full review in Spanish]

| Aug 8, 2022

[Don] Argott has made a worthwhile contribution to a controversy that deserves an audience.

| Sep 24, 2014

A fascinating good guy vs. bad guy art film about the big business of culture, that puts it on the same footing as big corporations.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 8, 2013

Argott beautifully explicates how this crew pulled off the most daring daylight art theft in history, though his passionate identification with the pro-Barnes faction limits the movie's political nuance.

| Jan 3, 2011

No matter what side you end up taking, you still might be tempted to call your lawyer to go over your will just one more time.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 11, 2010

The Art of the Steal paints only in black and white.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Aug 1, 2010

A tragic, true tale exposing America's ugly, two-tiered system of justice defined by the color line.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 23, 2010

Its lack of objectivity doesn't hurt the film as a piece of entertainment, although it does seem to weaken its own argument a little.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 14, 2010

Don Argott's new documentary makes some of the most outlandish conspiracy theories seem strangely believable.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 10, 2010

...A highly partisan and energetic documentary

| Original Score: 87/100 | May 8, 2010

A terrifically convoluted yarn with dozens of major players.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 7, 2010

There's a nagging, one-sided feel to this unapologetic bit of activist filmmaking, but that doesn't make the story any less compellilng, or the film any less enraging.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 22, 2010

The film's good versus bad scenario is, while understandable, too simplistic.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 16, 2010

Barnes might be only one man, but The Art of the Steal shows exactly what happens when politicians become too hungry with power and heavily infringe upon our private lives. Now I guess I can see why the Tea Party is all up in arms.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 16, 2010

A model of documentary filmmaking and activist cinematic journalism: unfailingly entertaining, expertly constructed and undeniably -- perhaps justifiably -- biased.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 16, 2010

While The Art of the Steal makes a very convincing -- even bone-chilling -- argument... the film fails to even ponder why easier access to some of the world's greatest art treasures might not be an entirely bad thing.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 16, 2010

Controversial and suspenseful, it evolves like a crime thriller as a collector's legally documented wishes are corrupted by the vulgarity of commerce.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 14, 2010

That tens of thousands of years of human and cultural progress could manifest itself in a single human being... and be obliterated in less than a half-century by commoditization to the advantage of public and private power-brokers is the great tragedy.

| Original Score: A | Apr 3, 2010

It's a tangled web spinning so far out of control if it were fiction no one would ever have believed it to be possible, die hard conspiracy theorists likely to find the scenario too outlandish even for them.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 1, 2010