If you’re still haunted by the mind-bendingly stupid NCIS “hacking” scene of two people typing on the same keyboard, Sneakers might be the antidote. Even if its hacking isn’t right, it feels right–fun rather than ridiculous and anarchic rather than conservative. Sneakers has put thought into its motley crew of hackers and down-at-the-heels techies, and one of the things it understands is that passions this specific and rare make you naturally a little offbeat: you wind up with criminals, idealists, and conspiracy theorists. The film has  relaxed, low-key affection for its characters and a good sense of humor, and that makes at least part of it just a solid hangout movie, one that benefits from an especially fun cast: Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, David Straithairn, Dan Akroyd, River Phoenix, Mary McDonnell, Donal Logue, Ben Kingsley, Stephen Tobolowsky, James Earl Jones…

But Sneakers has a pulse as well as a heart, and for all it doesn’t take itself too seriously, it nonetheless manages several well-crafted suspense sequences and genuine moral dilemmas. It benefits from an opening that both sets and up-ends its tone, beginning with young Martin and Cosmo getting their kicks out of hacking conservative fund sources and diverting their money to progressive causes. There’s a rule-breaking thrill to it, with their principles existing alongside the sheer exuberance of not being able to believe they’re doing this, that they’re able to do this. They’re high on their own cleverness. Then, through a carefully balanced turn of luck and fate, the two are separated–and the strands of principle and practice get separated along with them. We catch up with Martin years later, living under an assumed identity and running a team that tests companies’ security systems. He’s on the edge of respectability, and he has secrets, but he’s still part of an orderly society. The film’s goal is to test that, pushing Martin to the point where he has to make decisions about what he’s willing to do and who he’s willing to do it for.

The end result is a combination of humor, Mission: Impossible-style infiltration sequences, thriller hijinks, optimism, and just enough genuine moral weight to make it all matter.