Readily visible in AFTER THE SUNSET is the basis for a thriller that explores the conflict between ambition and satisfaction while commenting on the conventions of the caper genre. However, this insightful piece remains out of reach. Instead, we get an agreeable and occasionally quite sexy but basically standard upbeat diamond theft yarn.

If one is casting a jewel thief, Pierce Brosnan seems like the go-to guy that first springs to mind. Here he plays Max Burdett, an acknowledged king of the form, who after one last big heist (the opening sequence) retires to Paradise Island in the Bahamas with his devoted, resourceful partner/lover Lola (Salma Hayek). Lola is perfectly happy with their cushy leisure lifestyle, but Max is unmistakably restless. Then Max's nemesis, FBI agent Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson) arrives on the scene, thirsting for vengeance for his repeated humiliations at Max's hands. Stan is convinced that Max plans to steal a fabulous diamond that will be nearby aboard a luxury liner. Lola begins to suspect that Max has engineered their happily-ever-after simply to get at the gem, while a local gangster (Don Cheadle) wants Max to swipe the ice for him.

The screenplay by Paul Zbyszewski and Craig Rosenberg, from Zbyszekski's story, is skewed toward comedy. The twists in the relationship between Max and Stan have some very funny moments, and Cheadle's Henry Moore (or, as he has everyone pronouncing it, Henri Moray) is a source of deadpan hilarity, especially when he expounds on his plans for local "improvements." However, the writers and director Brett Ratner want to have it both ways with Max he's supposed to be the epitome of a super-cool icon and a real guy trying to sort out whether he can live with success. They never manage to balance the complexities they're trying to illustrate, with the result that the movie flattens out a little whenever we're supposed to get into Max's soul. As for Lola, Hayek is so alluring and charming that we can pretty much live with the fact that the filmmakers don't even attempt to give her any ambiguities or even find any humor in the notion that she wants a conventional existence, arrived at by very unconventional means. Whenever Max and Lola try to negotiate their relationship, we get the sense he'd rather be scheming, while she's so adaptable to domesticity that we wait for a reversal that never comes (there are some legitimate surprises here, but not that one).

There's no faulting the cast, though. Brosnan is the epitome of a classy fantasy beyond the law pro and Hayek is delightful as his perfect mate. Harrelson is a sly, charming clown who enlists our sympathy for the sort-of-but-not-entirely-hapless lawman and Naomie Harris has appeal and some steel as a local police officer. Cheadle runs quietly with his character's loony dialogue riffs, creating a villain who is intriguingly screwy we really never know what he'll say next.

AFTER THE SUNSET is an okay diversion. It doesn't feel like an afterthought, but it does feel like one more haul in a long string rather than a truly memorable score.