Review: Confidence

Told in flashback, Ed Burns is Jake Vig, the cockiest con man you’re likely to come across and pulls stings with a regular crew including Paul Giamatti, Louis Lombardi, and Brian Van Holt. Unfortunately, their latest sting sees them take $150,000 from an associate of a kingpin actually named King (Dustin Hoffman). King, who suffers from ADHD (and owns a ‘classy’ strip club), believes the money to have been his, and retaliates by killing one of Vig’s crew. Vig decides to confront King himself and see if they can’t reach some kind of agreement. King wants his damn money, but instead Vig proposes that he instead does a job for King. King agrees, so long as one of his own men (Franky G) tags along. Vig has also recently acquired the services of sexy grifter Lily (Rachel Weisz) as they attempt to take $5 million from King’s biggest rival (Robert Forster), planning on keeping the rest of the loot for themselves after paying off the debt to Hoffman (who is unaware of this). This involves the unwitting assistance of nerdy banker John Carroll Lynch. Meanwhile, nosy FBI agent Butan (Andy Garcia) wants to take Vig and his gang down, and has employed the services of dirty cops Guzman and Logue. Morris Chestnut plays Forster’s chief enforcer.

 

I like a good con artist/heist movie, and this 2003 film from director James Foley (“At Close Range”, “Glengarry Glen Ross”) and writer Doug Jung (creator of a TV show called “Dark Blue”) is a good one, even if it does feature Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’ at the end. I’m sorry, but that song is pure evil. Aside from Robert Forster playing Robert Forster for the billionth time (laziest actor of all-time?), the entire cast here is good fun.

 

It’s a short film, but well-written enough that even a character like John Carroll Lynch’s character is interesting enough to really earn your sympathy, though Lynch deserves a lot of the credit too. So it’s certainly not a one-dimensional script at all. Points off, though, for the excessive swearing (Apparently 130 uses of the word ‘fuck’ if you’re to believe IMDb). Swearing is great, but couldn’t Jung limit himself to one swear word per sentence? It’s not used in any witty or intelligent way in an otherwise clever script. Mind you, the film comes from the director of “Glengarry Glen Ross” so perhaps Jung was just trying to please Foley. The wrap-up in particular is surprisingly clever, even if one bit of deceit can be seen fairly early on.

 

Ed Burns is perfectly cast, and he and a seriously hot Rachel Weisz make for an interesting pairing. I first saw Weisz in “The Mummy” and didn’t like her (or the film), but have loved her in just about every film since. Paul Giamatti and Andy Garcia are also excellent in support, though the latter doesn’t have a very large role. Franky G, meanwhile, is mostly expendable but he does get the film’s funniest moment. Standing above all, however, is a truly oddball, deliberately irritating Dustin Hoffman as a crime kingpin unlike any other you’ve come across. He’s intimidating in the most offbeat and original way imaginable (instead of being a tough guy or violent masochist, he’s a horny and unpredictable ol’ perv and is all the more intimidating for it) and steals the film easily. He certainly looks to be having the time of his life being a sleazebag.

 

The film is pretty good-looking, too. Cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia (“At Close Range”, “Road House”, “Glengarry Glen Ross”) uses a few too many filters for my liking, but the use of shadows in a noir way kinda makes up for it. It’s certainly a colourful film.

 

Despite the profanity, it’s an easy watch and highly entertaining for fans of heist movies (which is what it is, essentially) in particular. How can you not be entertained by it? The cast alone provides more entertainment than a lot of other films. And at least it doesn’t last long enough to overstay its welcome, even if it’s hardly “The Sting”.

 

Rating: B-