Lying and Stealing follows Ivan Warding, a skilled art thief who works for a violent crime boss in Los Angeles. Ivan wants to leave crime behind, but his dead father’s gambling debt keeps him trapped. He meets Elyse, an actress and con woman who needs money after a powerful producer blocks her career. The two partners plan a final heist while the FBI and the crime boss close in. The film has a slick, dark, and playful crime tone, with sex, drugs, violence, and jokes.
The clearest identity-related material comes from Elyse’s story. The film shows a male producer using his power to pressure her for sex and keep her from getting jobs after she refuses him. This gives the film a small theme about male entitlement and unfair treatment of women. Elyse is a capable partner, yet the story presents her through a sexualized, glamorous crime-romance style. Most of the movie focuses on art theft, family debt, criminal deals, and the couple’s attempt to outsmart richer and more dangerous people.
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Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Lying and Stealing.
Woke representation / casting
Not present. The cast includes white leads in modern Los Angeles and a mixed supporting cast, including Isiah Whitlock Jr. as an FBI agent. The film does not make race, gender, or diversity a point of its character choices.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. The dialogue focuses on art theft, debts, sex, crime, and lies. It contains no clear modern identity, DEI, or activist argument.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Elyse’s backstory includes a powerful producer who pressures her for sex and blocks her acting work after she refuses him. The film treats his behavior as abusive and lets her answer it through theft, deception, and help from Ivan. Her story adds a recurring theme about male power and a woman’s limited choices in Hollywood. The theme remains part of her crime story.
28%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film shows a Hollywood producer using career power to demand sex from a young actress. The story presents his threat to end her career as wrong and lets Ivan force him to pay her debt. This is a brief critique of male entitlement and abuse in the entertainment business. The criticism stays focused on one producer and his actions.
24%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The film uses fictional characters and does not change established characters, canon, or real historical events.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Not present. The available reviews and audience comments focus on the story, acting, pacing, and sexual content. The separate X research pass found no anti-woke reaction or specific complaint.
0%
Creator track record context
Matt Aselton and Adam Nagata have little documented activist or identity-driven work in the cached context. Naomi Despres has produced female-centered and culturally focused films. Christopher Tricarico has worked on a queer-focused drama. Amey René has cast projects centered on LGBTQ experiences, and Theo James has refugee and humanitarian advocacy. These facts give the title mild creator track record context.
18%
Production
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