The movie opens with bank robber Karen McCoy (Kim Basinger) being apprehended during a heist.
Flash forward six years to her release on parole. She can't get a job as an ex-convict, her parole officer is sexually harassing her, and her ex-husband (and his new wife) have told Karen's son Patrick that she's dead.
She is befriended by hapless amateur criminal JT (Val Kilmer), who accidentally reconnects her with some old associates who want to utilize her talents once again. Karen is trying her best to go straight, but her old friends are very insistent and refuse to take no for an answer.
When they kidnap Patrick, Karen finally agrees to help with One Last Job.
The film provides examples of the following:
- And Starring: An "introducing" credit for the child actor playing Patrick.
- Bait-and-Switch: Karen hears screaming when she breaks into the cabin, but it turns out that Patrick's sleeping peacefully, and the screams were from the cartoons on TV.
- As their plane is about to take off, law enforcement stops it on the runway and boards, causing Karen to whisper "it's over". Then it turns out the plane was stopped so that a time-sensitive organ transplant could be put on board.
- Blatant Burglar: Conversed. When the junior guard is trying to convince his companions that he saw the team (during a momentary failure of their Camera Spoofing), the other guard asks him if they wore striped shirts and carried bags marked "loot".
- The Caper: One at the start where Karen gets caught, and then the big one at the climax.
- Camera Spoofing: Repeatedly. The lobby cameras and vault cameras have to be accessed separately, and the spoofing has to be turned on and off as security repeatedly arrives and then leaves again. The closest they come to being caught is when JT kicks out a wire and the vault spoofing briefly cuts out.
- Caper Rationalization: Karen's son is kidnapped to force her into One Last Job.
- Dirty Cop: Karen's parole officer sexually harasses her, and then actively strong-arms her back into a life of crime.
- Does Not Like Guns: Karen has a reputation for never packing heat, enough that she mocks Jack patting her down before the heist. Subverted when she breaks her rule as part of her betrayal, Double Subverted when it turns out that JT neglected to load the gun, but that's another story.
- Easily Forgiven: When JT protests to Karen that he didn't know his uncle would do something like kidnap her kid, Karen immediately believes him. Granted, JT is such a pathetic criminal and all-around clueless twit that it's hard to attribute much malice to him, but still.
- Epunymous Title: Karen McCoy is the genuine article.
- Failure Gambit: The team can't avoid setting off the alarms, so the plan is designed around the fact that the alarms will go off repeatedly.
- False False Alarm: It takes 5 minutes for security to arrive at the bank, but the crew needs 15. So they set off the alarms, do 5 minutes of work, then hide. Security comes, security leaves, rinse and repeat.
- Forced into Evil: Karen is coerced into completing One Last Job via the kidnapping of her son.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: JT shows a surprising reluctance to leave the money in the bank vault, considering he's unarmed and currently being shot at. The fact that he's still complaining about it in the getaway car while Karen is dealing with his gunshot wound is enough to make her laugh in spite of the circumstances.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Averted for the most part. The security company seems to be reasonably thorough, and after enough false alarms, rather than ignore them, the guards remain on-site until a full sweep can be conducted in the morning.
- But then when the junior guard notices a momentary lapse in the team's Camera Spoofing, the other guards completely disregard his story without investigating it, even though they should be on high alert after all the alarms going off.
- Happy Ending: Karen reveals her true identity to her son, makes it out of the country with the stolen money (from the bad guy, not the bank), and gets to live a happy life with Patrick. JT's there too.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Karen's parole officer, a Dirty Cop who uses his authority to sexually harasses her and later helps kidnap a child, crashes his car into the tiger enclosure. Too bad the tigers don't finish him off.
- Leg Focus: When a disguised Karen goes in to case the bank, there is a long, continuous shot of her legs as she walks in. It's implied that this distraction is why the bank employee is so accommodating to her.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Karen's ex told their son that she was dead. She spends the movie playing along, telling Patrick she's "a friend of your mother's". Only at the end, with JT pushing her, does she tell Patrick the truth.
- The McCoy: Karen; her last name is McCoy, and she's a McCoy herself.
- Morton's Fork: Karen's parole officer demanding she participate in the heist. If she refuses, he can send her back to jail, if she accepts, she'll be committing a crime, for which he can also send her back to jail.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Jack is not above child-abduction to get what he wants, and he originally sold out Karen to the cops because she turned down a job from him. Unsurprisingly, Karen entirely returns his lack of loyalty, and betrays him at her earliest convenience.
- Not in Front of the Kid: Karen and JT both swear in front of Patrick and then apologize. Patrick, for his part, shrugs it off and says his father does it all the time.
- One Last Job: Karen is determined to go clean, but when her son is kidnapped...
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The first sign that her ex-husband isn't at the airport for Patrick, but because he's expecting something else:Karen: You're early... you've never been early for anything in your life.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Jack is unwilling to take Karen's "no" for an answer.
- Secret Test of Character: An accidental one for Karen's ex-husband. He chooses the money over his son, and looses both in the bargain. (Certainly accidental on Karen's part, as it's clear she's surprised; it's possible JT helped set it up on purpose.)
- The Smurfette Principle: There are women in the film besides Karen, but every other major character, and every member of the heist team, is male.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Karen does not want to be part of the heist, and is certainly not happy to be forced into it under threat. No surprises when her actual plan includes betraying everyone else except JT.
- Tempting Fate: JT's line about nothing in his life ever going this right before is followed immediately by the plane stopping on the runway and law enforcement closing in.
- Thief Bag: Bags marked "loot" are mentioned jokingly by the guards, but that is in fact how the team intends to transport the money out of the bank vault.
- Tomboy: Karen describes herself this way when talking to Patrick, although she's referring as much to her interests (crime, technology) as to her fashion sense.
