The Brothers Bloom

"Trick to being cheated is to learn how to cheat" -Penelope

In Rian Johnson's second feature length film, Adrian Brody (Bloom) and Mark Ruffalo (Stephen) star as two brothers and con artists who, as their last con, fool eccentric millionaire Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz) into believing they are art smugglers and take her on a trans-Atlantic adventure. Younger brother Bloom is tired of the life and becomes more and more angst-ridden as he falls in love with Penelope, while older brother Stephen looks at each con as a chance to tell a story that will give everyone what they want. With the help of silent explosive expert Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) and fellow con man The Curator (Robbie Coltrane), The Brothers Bloom successfully tells an entertaining story with some witty dialogue and well-developed characters that is definitely worth watching.

Or at least that's what I thought until the last half hour. Johnson's mistake was that he had two endings and the first was better than the second. Just when I thought it was over a new problem arose that was annoying, repetitive, and unsatisfactory. Also, the inclusion of mentor turned villain, Diamond Dog, was both unnecessary and unexplained. While the characters were charming, the majority of the plot was interesting, and the numerous references to James Jocye's Ulysses thoughtful, these story problems caused the film to be a let down after feature debut, Brick. However, I do not give up hope that Rian Johnson is in fact a talented writer/director to keep an eye on in the future and I will definitely being seeing his next film, Looper, a sci-fi thriller expected to come out next year. 3 stars.

Interesting bit of trivia: Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Nora Zehetner, the leads from Brick, have a cameo in the bar scene in the beginning.