Review: The Brothers Bloom

Review: The Brothers Bloom

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 62%

I have always loved movies about the long and short con: The Lady Eve, The Music Man, Paper Moon, The Sting, The Grifters, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, Catch Me If You Can, and, oh, of course, Steve Martin's Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels. These are only a few of the titles in this surprisingly ubiquitous genre. Unfortunately, however, these films have predisposed us to skepticism whenever we watch a new film about a con artist. We know to take nothing at face value; we assume there is always more than meets the eye. Is a character dead? Probably not. The Sting ruined that surprise for us.

So, offering a new film in this genre is not for the faint of heart. The viewers expect to be surprised. We really don't want to figure it all out. We want to be conned. David Mamet did just that in House of Games. We didn't want to believe the ending. After all, the dead guy gets up, doesn't he? It's all a con, isn't it?

The Brothers Bloom does manage to surprise us -- to con us. We are finally amazed that we have been watching a love story all along, a story about the love of brothers as well as the love of a man and a woman. The director, Rian Johnson, manages the con predominantly through the stunning performances of his remarkable cast: Adrien Brody, not knowing what it is to live a life unscripted by his brother, Mark Ruffalo, a brilliant con artist, Rachel Weisz, a true, but entirely believable, eccentric, Rinko Kikuchi, silent and deadly, Robby Coltrane, a million miles from Hagrid, Maximilian Schell, diabolical and compelling, and Ricky Jay, the perfectly cast narrator.

The film loses some steam in the second half, but, overall, the con works. I'd like to see it again.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it