A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Besides the bizarre honky-tonk piano ragging recognisable riffs that serve as the soundtrack and the odd painterly chapter-break frames - that both feel quite out of place to the point that they tend to clash with the tone and interrupt the flow of the piece (rather than emulate the movies of the 1930s as intended), 'The Sting (1973)' is a colourful and gleefully confident flick that takes joy in simply showing its characters getting one over on the bad guy using their sheer ingenuity and willpower alone. It's set up to play out much like the big con it portrays and, while its final reveal didn't sneak up on me the way it is intended to, it successfully manages to cleverly subvert expectation and consistently deliver devilishly fun solutions to its smart little problems. 7/10

Don't do what I did. Don't walk into the living room when the last ten minutes of The Sting is playing on television before you've seen the entire movie. Watch it from the beginning.If you watch it from the beginning, it's fantastic (I'm assuming). Paul Newman and Robert Redford team up again, and bounce off each other like brothers. It's truly wonderful to watch them together.The Sting is a con-man, hustler, heist movie. Two con-men team up to get back at the boss; all the twists and turns will keep you on the edge of the seat the entire time! If that isn't enough, it's set in the 1920s, so there's cute music and darling costumes. If you haven't fallen in love with Robert Redford yet, watch this movie (or The Great Gatsby) and you will. He's just irresistible in 20s clothes.This is such an enjoyable and timeless classic. It's exciting, delightful, suspenseful, and classy. It's the kind of movie you want to dress up for.

Without a doubt one of my favorite movies ever made - the relationship between Redford and Newman is just perfect, the tricks they play and the turning of the tables (without spoiling anything here), it is just a great movie. It deserves all of the praise that it gets, from the acting to the sets and costumes and music, it is just extremely well done. If you haven't seen this, you should spend the time to watch it, as it's clearly one of the best movies to ever come out of Hollywood, and if you're a fan of either Redford or Newman, it's not possible to be such without having seen this movie.

At first I was only interested in this movie because of the prominence of Scott Joplin, but I soon found out that it had a lot more going for it than just the score.Highs: Let's start off with the obvious: the soundtrack. Even if the movie was unbelievably bad the music would still be good. I mean, it's Scott Joplin! I'm not going to give Marvin (may he rest in peace) too much credit here because all he did was adapt it a little, but kudos for using Scott Joplin in the first place. For a 1930s-style movie the script is on point. Not only is it witty but it just sounds like what would be expected of the era. Very entertaining in and of itself; the same thing could be said of the soundtrack.We can't leave off the plot; this movie is in fact so plot-centric that it would probably be considered a failure if George Roy Hill somehow managed to not pull it off smoothly. Of course, it all works out like clockwork, and it's a fantastically entertaining series of events to watch.The acting is impeccable. I've seen better but really it can't get that much better than this. Redford and Newman work together just as well as in their previous masterwork "Cassidy and the Kid", or, rather, have the audience fooled otherwise. Seems a little clichéd but remember this is a 70s movies; it's only a cliché now BECAUSE of this movie. The plot twist was in no way dated in the time period in which it was shown. I'm not going to spoil it; to do that would be an injustice to any first-time watchers.Despite the seeming anachronism, the Sting still retains a strangely timeless quality.Lows: Any Joplin purist (which I often will be) will oppose to the orchestral adaption of the pieces. I actually have no problem with these adaptations, they don't really feel out of place or anything. Which leads me to the next point: Joplin's music SHOULD be out of place. He was already a forgotten figure for at least 15 years when the movie took place. With that being said though, the soundtrack still fits swimmingly with the rest of the work. It's actually incredible how well the song selection fits with the plot. If you know Joplin and can name the tunes as soon as they float from the screen (as can I) then you really have to give Marvin credit for placing them where they are. "The Entertainer", of course, is during the opening and the title selection; where the audience requires a little...entertainment. "Easy Winners" is played right after Luther and Hooker walk away loaded after a con...easy money. And Solace is, of course, played during Hooker's search for love...or solace. I can't find anything to say about the "Pineapple Rag", for obvious reasons (this movie doesn't mention or show fruit very much at all) but the others are pretty genius.The only real con here is that Marvin is given a little bit too much credit. Many people will remember him as the "composer" of the brilliant tunes while it is in fact the one and only Scott Joplin who originated them. That is probably the only legitimate low I can find here.