Whether or not you like "The Good Thief," the new film from Irish director Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game"), depends on how you look at it. Compared to most Hollywood crime flicks, the film -- in which Nick Nolte stars as an aging, heroin-addicted, but good-hearted, crook -- is a little smarter, a little more subtle.

But, despite the fact that it's well-plotted, sometimes funny and sometimes interesting, "The Good Thief" doesn't wield the same kind of power as something like "Nine Queens," for example.

Born in France to a French mother and an American G.I. who disappeared, remarried and reappeared to take his young son to a new life in America, Bob Montagnet, is a gambler and addict. He meets the newly-arrived Anne (Nino Kukhanidze), a sweet-faced young girl just arriving in Marseilles tough underbelly.

Bob takes a liking to her, in a platonic way, and becomes her protector. He remains tender to her even when she becomes a deadly thorn in his plans for a big heist to get himself out of his financial woes. For this inside job, he assembles a gang of cohorts and they hatch a seemingly foolproof plan to bust a vault in Monte Carlo.

At the same time, Bob's arch enemy Remi (Marc Lavoine) and his drug-dealing sidekick Said (Ouassini Embarek) are trying to figure out Bob's plan and have decided that Anne is the weakest link. They set out to get the info from her.

Meanwhile, Bob must navigate his relationship with local police honcho Roger (Tcheky Karyo), who keeps pretty good tabs on Bob and the two spend much of the film playing an apparently good-natured game of cat and mouse.

Can they pull of the heist? Can they get away with it? Will Anne sell Bob out? Far be it from me to tell you. You can find out for yourself.

But, be warned, a fair portion of the dialogue is pretty hackeneyed heist-film chat and at times Nolte and Kukhanidze seem overly self-conscious.

"The Good Thief" opens at Landmark's Oriental Theatre on Fri., April 18.