Operation Odessa | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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Where to Watch Operation Odessa Critics Reviews Audience Reviews My Rating Cast & Crew More Like This Videos Operation Odessa Photos Operation Odessa References

100%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime.

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Operation Odessa

Critics Reviews

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Nick Schager

The Daily Beast

Operation Odessa is such an unbelievably wild, entertaining documentary that the dullness of its title is a borderline crime against itself.

Apr 2, 2018

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John Anderson

Wall Street Journal

Mr. Russell has a fluid hand with the visuals, which are always clever-the "Miami Vice"-style graphics and pulse rate evoke the era in question, and the sense of heedless forward motion suggests the Cinema of Excess.

Mar 30, 2018

Full Review

Allen Almachar

The MacGuffin

At times my mouth was agape at the audacity of these men's life choices.

Rated: B

Jul 17, 2020

Full Review

CJ Johnson

Film Mafia

As rollicking a documentary about heavy criminals as you get ... This is wild stuff. If you love the 'Cocaine Cowboy' oeuvre you'll hoover this up.

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 27, 2018

Full Review

Glenn Garvin

Reason Online

You can ignore the political implications and just enjoy Operation Odessa as a madcap black comedy about three guys who are half-genius and half-oaf blundering in and out of harrowingly scary situations.

Apr 5, 2018

Full Review

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Hammer to Nail

Flashy as all get out, with split screens, stylish graphics and peppy music galore, the documentary is full of pizzazz from start to finish.

Mar 27, 2018

Full Review

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Audience Reviews

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Ben Y Wow, what a waste of 95 min! Watched 1/2 and got bored, watched the other 1/2 later and it never got better. Plot sucked with a lame ending. Don't know what the people were smoking giving it anything above a 2 star. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/10/24 Full Review Esse C Like the reality version of Scarface or Tony Montana meets dumb and dumber. Great storytelling in the first person. Crazy story! Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/18/24 Full Review Audience Member A fun but informative documentary on the pinnacle of 90s Russian criminals coming up against the cartels and US forces Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member An unbelievable, legendary story, told hilariously by reminiscing OGs. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member This is f***ng awesome! The real story about 3 friends in crime. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member I was gob smacked by what these guy pulled off "and lived to tell the tale"... It was also a stark reminder of how utterly boring my life is by comparison. I'd give an organ (or two) to party with the Russian bear. I probably wouldn't need them anymore in the aftermath. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Operation Odessa

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Cast & Crew

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Tiller Russell Director Juan Almeida Actor Tony Galeota Actor Dick Gregorie Actor Richard Gregorie Actor Eli Holzman Producer

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Videos

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Operation Odessa

Operation Odessa: Trailer 1

1:45

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Photos

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Operation Odessa

Operation Odessa (2018)

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Synopsis In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime.

Director: Tiller Russell
Producer: Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman
Production Co: Scotty Gelt Productions
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2018
Runtime: 1h 33m

References

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/operation_odessa