Too much crossing the country - LA to Florida in the blink of an eye. Too much coincidence, too many people happen to be exactly where they need to be. Also, the ties that connect the plot points of the smuggling story are very week. The problem is that the ties that connect that to the real story, that of the art smuggling, which is the real mystery, are very thin. All that stuff is great for a great actor like Hackman who makes you feel how lost he is. So we are taken through his marriage, his wife's infidelity.
In this case, it's more about Hackman's character, a guy who despite his love of things like chess, can't seem to really figure stuff out. It's clear when the case is more or less solved about an hour in that the movie is really going to be about something else.
First of which, the story really doesn't make sense. Night Moves is a good movie and a lot of fun but it has some limitations which keep it from being more than that. It also benefits from being from that new golden era of cinema, the 70s, where the films showcase a gritty side to characters, often played by some of the best anti-hero actors of all time - Hackman, in this case. NIght Moves falls into that category of movies that was not so loved when it came it but since time has passed, people have come around to it.
