Hey folks, Harry here... this is one of the movies that I didn't see to see that retch, THE REAL CANCUN, so of course it's a "Fun" movie that Capone recommends. As was that Fritz Lang Film Noir flick that the Drafthouse was playing that I missed... When will I ever get a chance to see FURY on the big screen again. Sigh... Here's Capone... he gets to live his life having never seen THE REAL CANCUN... isn't he special? Errrrr...
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with my first non-art house film review in quite a while. Probably the best word to describe director James (GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, THE CORRUPTER) Foley’s latest film is “Fun.” A vastly overused word if ever there was one, true, but probably the most appropriate. CONFIDENCE isn’t Special or Original or Masterful in any way. It doesn’t even rank as one of the great con-artist films ever made. But it is lots of Fun.
Edward Burns stars as Jake Vig, a professional con man who works with a regular crew of tricksters, including the unsinkable Paul Giamatti, Brian Van Holt, and two corrupt cops played by...wait for it cuz it’s worth it.... Donal Logue and Luis Guzman. I like Burns enough, especially in his own films, but the guy’s acting abilities is a big limited. He has two expressions outside of his neutral dopey blank one: furrowed-brow serious and crooked-smile charming. He uses both a lot in CONFIDENCE. The film opens with one of my least favorite narrative devices: Burns talking to us from beyond the grave as we look at his bloodied body lying lifeless on the ground. We deduce from this one of two things: he’s not really dead, or he is and this is a remake of SUNSET BOULEVARD. I’ll give you three guesses which is the case in this film.
Burns tells us how he got in this position and we get dropped into a con in progress, complete with smoking guns, a dead body, and a suitcase full of cash. Once the con is complete and the money is divided up, the crew finds out that money actually belonged to a major criminal player in town known as The King, played by Dustin Hoffman in a truly bizarre but not entirely convincing portrayal of a sexual deviant sociopath. Not wanting to piss off The King, Burns goes to him to make good. He can’t give him the money back but he offers to run another con and split the proceeds. The King picks the mark, an old adversary played by Robert Forster, who isn’t in this film nearly as much as I would have liked. Since The King has killed one of his crew, Jake is forced to hire a new player named Lily (Rachel Weisz...Meow). Jake is also saddled with one of The King’s henchman named Lupus played by Franky G.
The resulting $5 million con is pretty cool and involves money laundering, off-shore accounts, crooked bankers, and shifty customs officials. Also thrown into the mix is a grizzled federal agent (Andy Garcia) who has made it his life’s work to catch Jake in the act. What I liked about CONFIDENCE is that it walks you through the con so that you know what’s supposed to happen; it throws a few wrenches into the works that the crew has to deal with and adjust the plan; and, not surprisingly with so many players in the mix, it goes horribly wrong by the end...or does it? Foley does a great job of keeping all the elements moving and making sense. The performers, even those with questionable talent, seem full of energy and are game for just about anything. And with a running time that barely makes it past 90 minutes, it’s hardly around long enough to annoy you if you don’t like it. I did. Foley and some of the actors in the film are revisiting their barely concealed Mamet roots to be sure, but that didn’t bother me. In short, CONFIDENCE is Fun.
Capone
