Better than "The Reader" or "Monuments Men"

I didn't see this in cinemas because of the mixed reviews,
but watched it now on DVD...

Surprise, it's good!

I understand why many critics had issues with some aspects of the film,
like the casting of Ryan Reynolds, who is not bad, but not great either,
or some conventional and uninspired scenes...

But the good parts are strong and I thought this film was educational
and very entertaining, which is a tricky thing to do in this case,
because the subject (art theft by the Nazis) sounds very dry.

We always talk about the Nazis as murderers and crazies,
but we forget that the Holocaust was a gigantic theft of goods, too.

Many ordinary Germans and Austrians were no real anti-semites,
but they were greedy and stole whatever they could from the Jewish people
and other victims.

This film makes that point very clear and I like that.

I like the "Austrians were no victims, they celebrated Hitler!" scene, too,
because it's true, but most people ignore that historical fact.

If WWII history doesn't interest you, I can assure you, that it's
still a funny, fast and well-made film and you won't be bored.

The dialogue is very good at times.

And it has one of Helen Mirren's best performances.

Underrated!