Review: ‘Museo,’ a stylish, fun art-heist ‘replica’ with big questions about cultural plundering

“Museo” is a fun, stylish, singular heist flick that’s about so much more than the theft itself. Anchored by a superb lead turn by Gael García Bernal as the slacker mastermind of a two-man museum burglary, director Alonso Ruizpalacios, working off a script he wrote with Manuel Alcalá, has crafted an often brash, inventive piece that’s as visually compelling as it is thematically resonant. More out of personal stasis than financial need, they unite on a surprisingly workable plan to break into their capital city’s National Museum of Anthropology in the wee hours of Christmas and steal a national-treasure trove of pre-Columbian relics, including the jade death mask of ancient Mayan King Pakal and a uniquely shaped Aztec obsidian vase. RELATED: ‘Museo’ star Gael García Bernal and director Alonso Ruizpalacios on the cultural politics of their art heist film Our hapless, if fleetingly lucky crooks are aided in their mission by distracted security guards and an apparent absence of surveillance cameras. “Museo” In Spanish and English with English subtitles Rating: Not rated Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena