The Score

Nick Wells, a veteran cat burglar with a taste for quiet retirement, has one last plan to secure his future as the sun sets on a life of risk. He teams with a younger, ambitious thief named Jack Teller, who believes the perfect score could pave his own path to wealth and respect. What starts as a clean, meticulously staged theft quickly becomes a high-stakes test of trust, deception, and timing as the two men push each other to the edge. The job draws in a circle of seasoned criminals and a wary rival, each move watched by a clock that asks one question: what is the price of leaving the game behind? The lure of one last score entices.

Directed by Frank Oz, The Score arrived in 2001 from Universal Pictures. The screenplay is an original work credited to Scott Marshall Smith, Lem Dobbs, and Kario Salem, pairing performances with a tightly plotted heist story built around careful misdirection.

With a budget around 68 million dollars, The Score grossed about 113.6 million worldwide, signaling solid, club-friendly returns rather than spectacle. The film benefited from a starry lineup including Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando, drawing wide audiences.

While not a cultural revolution, the film is noted for the rare collaboration of generations in the heist genre, delivering a poised cat and mouse dynamic between De Niro's veteran Wells and Norton's ambitious Teller, anchored by Brando's enigmatic Max. The dialogue and tension linger for fans long after viewing.

Critics generally praised the performances and the intelligent plotting, though some found the pacing uneven. The film examines retirement, loyalty, and the moral cost of a calculated life, balancing slick action with quieter conversations about trust, risk, and the line between professional pride and vulnerability for its audience in retrospect.