Lying and Stealing
# Lying and Stealing

Lying and Stealing is a 2019 American crime drama film, directed by Matt Aselton from a screenplay by Aselton and Adam Nagata. It stars Theo James, Emily Ratajkowski, Fred Melamed, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Evan Handler.

It was released on July 12, 2019, by Vertical Entertainment.

## Plot

Ivan Warding is a thief who specializes in stealing art from the elite of Los Angeles. He is obliged to a crime boss and wants to get out of the art heist business. Elyse Tibaldi is an in-debt aspiring actress who is also a con-woman. Together they plot one last heist and con that will set both free from their obligations.

## Cast

* Theo James as Ivan Warding
* Emily Ratajkowski as Elyse Tibaldi
* Fred Melamed as Dimitri Maropakis
* Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ray Warding
* Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Lyman Wilkers
* Evan Handler as Eric Maropakis
* John Gatins as Aton Eisenstadt
* Fernanda Andrade as Mary Bertring
* Bob Stephenson as Mr. Oklahoma
* Keith Powell as Mike Williams

## Production

In November 2017, it was announced Theo James, Emily Ratajkowski, Fred Melamed, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Evan Handler and John Gatins joined the cast of the film, with Matt Aseleton directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside Adam Nagata.

## Release

In January 2019, Vertical Entertainment and DirecTV Cinema acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on July 12, 2019.

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Dennis Harvey of Variety magazine wrote: "Yet even given its budgetary limits and second-tier cast, 'Lying and Stealing' manages to be a retro escapist pleasure — one whose cleverness might actually have been muffled by flashier surface assets."

