NEIL MCCAULEY (ROBERT DE Niro) is an orderly and calculating man. Like many entrepreneurs managing small, risky businesses, he has put the rest of his life on hold lest emotional distractions disrupt more profitable pursuits. Though that business consists of planning and executing complex, high-stakes robberies, the man is actually as risk averse as an actuary, and about as romantic.
Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is, in contrast, a disorderly and incautious man. A Los Angeles detective who is all hot-wired impulses, he has never learned to control his emotions or wall off his professional from his personal life; he's heading helplessly...