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Coin Heist: a film of a unique mold

Coin Heist is the story of four students banding together to save their school. After his father is arrested for embezzlement of the school's endowment, Jason looks to an ex-girlfriend, an experienced hacker, and a football-playing engineer to help save the school. 

Their plan is this: break into the United States Mint, cast 2000 state quarters with an error on them, and then sell them to make the money that has vanished back, thus returning the extra-curricular activities and scholarships to the school.


The film reminds me of a fusion of The Breakfast Club and Catch That Kid. The group dynamic (the jock, prep, slacker, and brainiac) combined with their deception of their teacher is very similar to that of The Breakfast Club. The concept of younger persons stealing to help save something they care about is a similar image to that of Catch That Kid.

The film's statements on the value of a coin is quite interesting. They talk about how the system works because we agree and believe in the value of that coin. It also provides an interesting look into how United States currency is produced, and the causes for errors in coins.

However, there are moments that really don't make a lot of sense why they made the final cut. There may be reasons for these moments that ended up on the cutting room floor, but the comments feel unjustified. An example of this is when the security back up arrives. These are two guards who are seen earlier in the film bickering about protocols. This is the only time they are really shown before they arrive during the heist. However, the guard on duty groans as though they are the biggest screw ups on the staff, and tells them to stay out of the way to be helpful. This lack of development causes that moment to really fall flat.

I also didn't agree with the obligatory relationships that form from the story. I felt like these moments became forced at times just to produce a character conflict. I also felt no major chemistry from the soon-to-be couples throughout the film, making this part of the resolution hard to believe.

I did like the semi-callback to Ocean's Eleven at the end, with the group gradually stepping away from the art, in a similar way to how the team walks away from the fountain in Ocean's Eleven. I am almost certain other callbacks are present in this film, although I likely missed them as I haven't seen a large number of heist films.

Overall, the film is interesting to watch casually, and has a little of everything that would make it a good movie to sit back and enjoy.


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