De Niro plays Nick Wells, a jazz club owner in Montreal who has a lucrative sideline ripping off high-priced goods. He’s a man with a certain code of conduct, and one of the things in his code is to not steal anything from inside his own city. He reasons that he lives there so he should not make trouble in his own backyard. That changes when Jackie Teller (Norton) and Max Baron (Brando) propose they steal a priceless French treasure from the Montreal Customs House. It can bring Nick enough money so that he can finally settle down and possibly get married. Jackie and Max have their own reasons.

Director Frank Oz keeps the tension high and the stupidity low. Many films like this fall into traps by introducing elements that make them completely unbelievable (Swordfish did this with its foolish computer gimmickry, for example). The Score keeps it simple and relies mainly on the skill and ingenuity of its main players. Certainly a heist that’s as elaborate as this one is stretching the limits of credibility, but it works. It also plays out very quickly without a scene dragging on for even a second too long. I planted myself in my seat and didn’t get a popcorn refill once.

And as expected, the acting is tops. Edward Norton plays a fast-mouthed, tougher-than-he-looks criminal, but he wisely steps aside to let Brando and De Niro chew up the scenery. They have a few good scenes together, and it’s nice to see Brando finally do something near the end of his career that doesn’t embarrass himself too badly (e.g., The Island of Dr. Moreau). However, it’s De Niro’s rock-solid, if unoriginal, Nick Wells who holds it all together. De Niro isn’t breaking any new ground here, but he does show why he’s been one of the best actors in America for almost three decades.