The “Steven Soderbergh presents” credit at the start of “Cold Wallet” raises expectations higher than can be sustained. The movie, directed by Cutter Hodierne, is a no-frills crime film that pits a group of wronged investors who trawl Reddit and YouTube for tips against an amoral crypto mogul who has stolen their savings. The matchup leaves the movie with a deficit of rooting interest.
Billy (Raúl Castillo), a divorced dad, has bet big on a currency called Tulip Coin and plans to buy a house. But the exchange goes bust after the supposed demise of its chief executive, and investors like Billy are crushed. Then a hacker, Eva (Melonie Diaz), alerts Billy that the executive, Charles Hegel (Josh Brener), in fact faked his death. And he just happens to be hiding out in a mansion in the Berkshires, which is where both of them reside. It’s as if western Massachusetts were the only spot on the planet with internet.
Billy, Eva and Billy’s friend Dom (Tony Cavalero), a pacifist with handy grappling skills, hatch a half-baked plan to break into the mansion and steal back the money from Charles. Naturally, it’s not so easy, and when Charles spends the night as their hostage, he tries to play them against one another. The storytelling economy (small cast, one main location) is welcome, but none of the four characters is the sharpest tool in the shed, and whatever insights Hodierne intends on the cutthroat world of crypto remain elusive.
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