In December 1999, insurance investigator Virginia "Gin" Baker assesses the theft of a valuable Rembrandt painting from a New York City penthouse.

Gin informs her boss, Hector Cruz, that she suspects the involvement of world-class international thief Robert "Mac" MacDougal, an elderly man who steals for the challenge.

In Kuala Lumpur, Gin reveals her plan to infiltrate the Malaysian branch of the International Clearance Bank (ICB) housed in the Petronas Towers.

At midnight on New Year's Eve, the bank's global computer system will briefly shut down for thirty seconds to verify its integrity due to the millennium bug.

During this window, Gin and Mac plan to use her custom software to siphon small amounts from thousands of corporate transactions into her account.

The pair reach a large ventilation shaft and Mac forces a tearful Gin to escape with his parachute while he remains behind, promising to meet her at Pudu train station.

The following morning, Mac meets Gin at the station, accompanied by Thibadeaux, who reveals himself as a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent.

Mac confesses that he was arrested two years earlier and given a deal to avoid jail by entraping Gin, who has long been under FBI suspicion.

As a train arrives at the station, Mac reveals that he has fallen in love with Gin, and that he only surrendered $7 billion to the FBI, before slipping her a gun and documents to escape the country.

Ebert noted about Zeta-Jones, "I can only reflect, as I did while watching her in "The Mask Of Zorro," that while beautiful women are a dime a dozen in the movies, those with fire, flash and humor are a good deal more scarce.

"[15] Following Entrapment's release in June 1999, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused the film of presenting a distorted image of Malaysia.

[16] The Malaysian Government had assisted Twentieth Century Fox with visa processing, customs clearance, telecommunications and security in a bid to promote Malaysia as a film location.