Critics at Large | The New Yorker

Episode: The Guilty Pleasure of the Heist

Date: November 13, 2025
Hosts: Vinson Cunningham (C), Naomi Fry (A), Alexandra Schwartz (B)

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the enduring cultural fascination with heists, both real and fictional. Sparked by the recent, much-memed Louvre crown jewels robbery and the new Kelly Reichardt film The Mastermind, the hosts explore why audiences find pleasure in tales of clever criminality, the tropes of heist narratives, and how real-life events often get filtered through pop culture. The conversation touches on the social, political, and emotional undertones of heist stories, with each host sharing personal favorites from the genre and reflecting on what these stories say about our relationship to institutions—and to crime itself.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Heist Fantasies: Opening Question

• Hosts imagine their personal “heist targets” as an icebreaker, blending humor and nostalgia:
  • Naomi Fry (A): “Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California – it would be an absolutely adorable heist.” (01:01)
  • Alexandra Schwartz (B): “A classic heist... probably a mummy from the Met or something. Something that was already stolen. And so just steal it again, right? What’s the harm?” (01:24)
  • Vinson Cunningham (C): “The Macy's on 34th Street... I know the building well enough that I could develop a plan with airtight... With the help of a team of experts. Don't get me wrong, right? We could get together and Italian Job the fuck out of that Macy's.” (01:35)

2. The Louvre Heist: Real Crime, Online Sensation

• The recent daytime theft of French crown jewels from the Louvre captures global attention as a rare “fun” worldwide news story.
• Naomi Fry (A) details the farcical elements:
  • “The criminals... pulled up like a truck with a ladder... dressed up as workmen. And the camera... was conveniently turned away from them. Actually, scratch that, my favorite detail, apparently the password of the security system... is Louvre.” (04:08)
• Alexandra Schwartz (B): “It’s kind of a trifle... clown show.” (05:04)
• Vinson (C): Highlights “human frailty” and how errors in the plan led to capture: “I always like the parts of the plan that don't come together... It's just such a pathetic detail of human frailty.” (05:07)

Memes and Cultural Response

• The hosts discuss the joy and creativity of heist memes, as the internet riffs on the story’s “Frenchness.”
  • Naomi shares a favorite Instagram video—“my impression of the Louvre heist creative director”—lampooning the aesthetic as a work of French art. (07:34–08:24)
  • Vinson notes that even the lift manufacturer got in on the fun, promoting their system as the “quiet as a whisper” tool of the thieves. (08:47)
  • Alex delights in a viral song: “The two dudes who robbed the Louvre are literally sexy as hell...” marveling at the intersection of actual talent and absurdity. (10:47)

3. Fictional Heists: ‘The Mastermind’ and The Heist Genre

Kelly Reichardt’s ‘The Mastermind’—A Failed Art Heist (12:15–18:33)

• Plot Summary (C):
  • “The Mastermind begins with... James Mooney... wayward son of a judge... surreptitiously unlocks a museum case... planning to steal a bunch of paintings... It’s like a shit show at one point.”
• Alex (B) loves it completely: “Loved every second of this movie. Every frame. Every minute, every music cue. Loved it.” (16:41–16:46)
• Nomi (A) & Vinson (C) are ambivalent:
  • Nomi admires Reichardt’s “ability to get through... movies that aren’t commercial” but finds the movie “stretch[es] a little bit too far into, like, who is this guy?” (14:40–16:38)
  • Vinson feels “Josh O’Connor does not belong in this movie... He’s too famous and he’s not actually... This movie calls for anonymity.” (14:14)

What Makes Heist Stories So Enticing?

• The hosts agree that heist narratives satisfy on multiple levels:
  • “Something really satisfying about watching a group of people execute on a complicated plan... schadenfreude when things go wrong... there’s an almost Robin Hood-like angle.” (06:12)

4. Heist Movie Canon: Personal Favorites (21:30–28:14)

• Naomi (A):
  • Recalls How to Beat the High Cost of Living—“three women in Oregon, suburban moms... decide to pull off a heist in the local mall. It shows the real socioeconomic and gender desperation behind this endeavor.” (22:14–23:51)
• Vinson (C):
  • Drive (2011): “The stunt driver is sort of getting to know this woman... her ex gets out of jail and he's pulled into a heist... goes wrong, goes bad... a beautiful movie about a really desperate situation.” (23:51–25:49)
• Alex (B):
  • Le Cercle Rouge (1970): “So fantastic and complex and brilliantly plotted... layers on layers... you just feel the weight of time... very satisfying... philosophical about the darker nature of man, what leads someone to commit crime.” (25:51–28:14)

5. Roots of Identification: Why Do We Side with Heisters? (29:25–32:31)

• Moral Ambiguity and Social Critique
  • Vinson (C): “Maybe the way to understand the heist movie is that the only way to understand society... is to understand the holes in them at which the heist is sort of laser targeted.” (30:14)
  • Naomi (A): “There is a certain satisfaction. And this is like in a heist gone well, in a heist gone right, that you’re like, oh, someone can carry something off... It's the morality of, like, wits.” (30:29–31:30)
  • Heist stories reflect admiration for cleverness and competence—“competency porn”—and the thrill of subverting established power.

6. Success vs. Failure: What Do We Really Want from a Heist? (34:08–39:23)

• Is “getting away with it” essential to heist satisfaction?

  • Vinson (C): “The success or failure of the heist, sort of in our attitudes toward it, start to describe for us how we feel about the great big totems of our everyday lives.” (34:08–35:26)
  • Alex (B) describes the impact of real art theft: “I felt quite, quite bereft to see the absence of these things [at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]... They are there to be entered into our own lives and shared among us... another community.” (36:31)

• Escapism vs. Realism: Successful, glamorous heists like Ocean’s Eleven “scratch one itch”—pure escapism—while the messy, failed heists of films like The Mastermind or Good Time “turn a mirror to society” and elicit empathy and anxiety instead. (37:45–39:23)

7. Heist Metaphors: Society, Power, and Contemporary Relevance (41:08–45:32)

• Alex (B): “Scammers and heisters—similar, but one just feels a lot grosser than the other... There’s something sordid, even about finding [real] heists fun.” (41:08)
• Vinson (C): “The supposedly minor criminality or benign criminality of the establishment has now been doubled down upon, made buffoonishly pushed to its final extent... On the other hand, you could say... it exposes what was always exploitable.” (43:26–44:17)
• Naomi (A): “Now that [the White House] is being torn down willy-nilly to build a gilded $300 million ballroom, I’m like, fuck, I miss... the George W. Bush White House... It’s making me think things I never thought I’d really care about.” (44:19)

8. The Future of Heisting: Enduring Allure & Final Thoughts

• Vinson (C): “Heisters will always be with us... We often think of the heister as a very sane person who just has a big idea.” (45:51)
• Naomi (A) jokes about becoming an infamous Schulz Museum heister. (46:18)
• Alex (B) proposes writing the musical if it happens—a callback to earlier, lighthearted meme culture discussion. (46:33–46:42)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “With the help of a team of experts. Don’t get me wrong, right? We could get together and Italian Job the fuck out of that Macy’s.” – Vinson Cunningham (01:35)
• “Apparently the password of the security system of the Louvre... is Louvre.” – Naomi Fry (05:04)
• “Loved every second of this movie. Every frame. Every minute, every music cue. Loved it.” – Alexandra Schwartz on The Mastermind (16:41)
• “The only way to understand society... is to understand the holes in them at which the heist is sort of laser targeted.” – Vinson Cunningham (30:14)
• “A successful heist is pure escapism, you know... Whereas the failed heist movie... It’s almost like two different separate genres.” – Naomi Fry (37:45)
• “What I love about a heist is restraint. You have to know what you can get away with, and when you get too greedy, the whole thing is liable to fall apart.” – Alexandra Schwartz (44:59)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:00 – Host’s dream heists (fun icebreaker)
• 03:27 – Setting up the Louvre heist as a world event
• 04:08–05:36 – Absurd/entertaining details of the Louvre heist
• 07:34–10:47 – Memes and social media responses
• 12:15–18:33 – Discussion of The Mastermind: plot, reactions, and themes
• 21:30–28:14 – The hosts’ favorite heist movies: How to Beat the High Cost of Living, Drive, Le Cercle Rouge
• 29:25–32:31 – Why audiences root for heisters; societal critique
• 34:08–39:23 – The psychological tension of failed vs. successful heists
• 41:08–45:32 – Heist narratives as metaphors for contemporary political and social realities
• 45:51–46:42 – Closing jokes about becoming real-life heisters

Overall Tone and Style

The episode is lively, witty, and self-aware—balancing genuine cultural analysis with humor and a clear love for the genre. The hosts’ rapport shines through as they debate, reminisce about formative heist movies, and draw connections between pop culture and the real world.

For New Listeners

This episode is a spirited, insightful deep dive into what makes heist stories irresistibly juicy—be it in movies, memes, or the news. Whether you’re after competent criminals in glittering casinos, bumbling thieves in over their heads, or the memes that make us laugh about it all, Critics at Large offers a thoughtful, entertaining conversation on the guilty pleasure that is the heist.