TRAFFIC

'Brothers Bloom' is a con movie that won't leave you feeling hustled

BY ROGER MOORE - THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

Published: 06/12/09

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

THE BROTHERS BLOOM

***1/2 Rated: PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language. Starring: Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo. Director: Rian Johnson. Running time: 113 minutes. Theater: Flicks.

"The Brothers Bloom" is a dark "big con" comedy in "The Grifters" tradition. Writer-director Rian Johnson has a literary bent and an ear for chewy dialogue. "Brick," a film noir about a tough kid trying to solve a murder in his high school, was his debut.

"Brothers Bloom" is Johnson's homage to the great con-man dramedies of playwright-turned-filmmaker David Mamet, movies like "House of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner." Johnson even has Mamet's resident magician-hustler, Ricky Jay, narrate.

So Johnson and his stars, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Mark Ruffalo, have made a willfully eccentric, instant cult film - a movie for big-con movie lovers, but a movie that's too clever for its own good and too long by about 20 minutes.

Brody and Ruffalo are orphaned brothers, con artists from an early age. One of the cute conceits here is that they wore black jackets and bowler hats, even as kids. Another conceit is that the younger brother (Brody), the lonely romantic who wants to get out of the game, is just called by their last name, "Bloom."

Their "one last job" is an adorably odd and clumsy millionairess (Weisz, perfect). "I collect hobbies," Penelope says. She's mastered many skills even if she is socially awkward. Steven (Ruffalo, winningly cast against type) wants to give her the "perfect con," in which everybody involved, even the cheated "mark," feels rewarded.

We travel from Jersey to Montenegro, meet other con men (Robbie Coltrane, Maximilian Schell) and are regaled with big performances in service of a script that crosses from cute to "cutesy."

It's all a con, but thanks to Johnson's way with characters and dialogue, we don't mind the hustle so long as we're rewarded along the way.

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