Hollywood’s fascination with the older man-younger woman romance continues in the heist drama, Entrapment. Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the cross-generational lovers. Their lukewarm romance is the pitiful highlight of this thoroughly ridiculous film.

Robert MacDougal (Sean Connery), aka “Mac”, is a master thief, rich beyond all wildest dreams. He steals now for the challenge, seeing each potential theft as a magnificent puzzle to be solved. He is the best of the best, and has never been caught.

Gin Baker(Catherine Zeta-Jones) is an insurance investigator who has been tracing Mac’s illustrious career. She gets approval from her boss, Cruz (Will Patton), to go undercover and trap Mac in a heist. However, Gin has other plans in mind…

Entrapment is a movie with only one redeeming value: the personal charisma of its stars. The dialogue is horrible, the plotting ridiculous, and even the stunts aren’t all that alluring. But when Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones are on the screen, you start to forget how bad a movie this really is.

But it is bad…very bad. The movie starts with some promise, in a whiz-bang robbery scene right off the bat. But when the dialogue kicks in, the technical wizardry seems to go out the window, and the entire film deflates into nothingness.

The plot hinges around the upcoming millennium shift. It’s a timely topic, but the screenwriters apparently didn’t research Y2K issues much deeper than the name. Then again, nothing in this movie seems to be very well researched. From security measures to tricks of the thieving trade, the details of the film all seem to be invented off the cuff.

The leads, appealing as they are, are hopelessly trapped in their shallow characters. Sean Connery is actually given very little to do. His role here is more of a coach than a player. Catherine Zeta-Jones would be much more enchanting if her character wasn’t constantly whining and pouting.

Don’t be lured into Entrapment on the basis of the stars alone. The power of their sheer presence can only lift the movie so far. Entrapment isn’t worth the heist.