ScreeningNotes’s review published on Letterboxd:
Two top notch Redford performances in one night and now I'm feeling like I clearly need to spend more time with the 70's. Of course part of what's so impressive about The Sting is that it genuinely feels like it's from the 30's thanks to the incredible art direction.
For some reason knowing that this movie had taken 7 Oscars made me skeptical going into it. How often is the Academy really right? Well they seem to have nailed this one. It has style flowing out of its ears. It reminded me of The Artist, another throwback film which had an excess of style.
It's also lovely that, while it clearly has a foot in the mystery/suspense genre, it focuses the majority of its energy into the characters, making it much more enjoyable and rewarding. It's not the sort of movie where "seeing it coming" ruins anything, and as a result I suspect it's a movie that benefits from return visits.
And how about those scene transitions? Wipes and iris shots and some things I'm embarrassed to say I don't even know the name of.
Went in skeptical and came out a fan.