Nobel Son, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival back in 2007, was released on DVD yesterday. While not a great film, it is certainly entertaining and worth at least one viewing.

The movie stars Bryan Greenberg as Barkley Michaelson, the son of an egomaniacal professor, Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman), who has just won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. While in Stockholm with his wife, Sarah Michaelson (Mary Steenburgen), Eli received a call saying that his son has been kidnapped and after receiving a severed thumb in the mail he is convinced. Barkley has been kidnapped by Thadeus James (Shawn Hatosy), who claims to be the illegitimate son of Eli Michaelson and that all the work he has done to win the Nobel Prize is plagiarized. Barkley eventually convinces his kidnapper that he too thinks his father is a jackass and he will help with the ransom scheme if they can split the $2 million. What ensues is a ransom heist scheme, back stabbing twists and turns, and a game of who’s who and who knows what.

While Nobel Son is entertaining, it feels like director Randall Miller (Class Act, The Sixth Man, Ballroom Dancing) is trying too hard to achieve that twist and turn heist movie feel and overshoots his mark. The way in which Barkley and his kidnapper obtain the ransom money without being caught by the authorities is too far-fetched; you really don’t get the feeling that these two late-twenty-something’s could have come up with this plot, nor the means and know-how to do it. The first two acts, despite the over the top plot points, are fun to watch and have just the right amount of twists and turns…

You can check out the full review of the film here!