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‘Brothers Bloom’ is eccentric cult film
Movie
The Brothers Bloom
For as long as they can remember, the Brothers Bloom have had only each other to depend on. From their childhood in a long series of gloomy foster homes to their high-flying lives as international con artists, Stephen and Bloom have shared everything. Stephen brilliantly concocts intricate stories that the brothers live out, but he's still searching for the perfect con, the one where "everyone gets what they want." Meanwhile, Bloom yearns for "an unwritten life"--a real adventure, one not dreamed up by his old brother. Eager to retire, Bloom agrees to take part in one last grand scam. He insinuates himself into the life of Penelope, a bored, single New Jersey heiress. When a genuine romance begins to blossom between them, he is reluctant to exploit her naiveté, but Penelope has already taken the bait: She impulsively joins Bloom, Stephen and their "associate," a sexy Japanese explosives expert named Bang Bang on an ocean liner to Greece. Penelope is convinced she's happened upon the adventure of a lifetime and offers to bankroll a million dollar deal. As the quartet makes their way from Athens to Prague to Mexico to St. Petersburg, Penelope quickly becomes addicted to the illicit thrills. But as Stephen's elaborate web of deceit pulls tighter, Bloom begins to wonder if his brother has devised the most dangerous con of his life.
‘THE BROTHERS BLOOM’
Grade: B
Director: Rian Johnson
Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language
By Roger Moore
“The Brothers Bloom” is a dark “big-con” comedy in “The Grifters” tradition. Writer-director Rian Johnson has a genre Jones, 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. You probably haven’t seen that, but it’s worth renting.
“Brothers Bloom” is Johnson’s homage to the great con-man dramedies of playwright-turned-filmmaker David Mamet: movies such as “House of Games” and “The Spanish Prisoner.” Johnson even has Mamet’s resident magician-hustler, Ricky Jay, narrate. If box office returns are to be believed, you haven’t seen those either, but they’re worth renting.
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.”
Steven scripts their elaborate cons, invents names, monologues and picks settings. Bloom just wants “to live a life unwritten.”
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. In Penelope’s case, that’s a chance to fall in love with Bloom (Brody), to have “a grand adventure” scripted by Steven, which will cost her a million bucks. The sexy and silent accomplice Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) will help.
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.