Confidence (2003)

When professional grifter Jake Vig (Edward Burns) chooses the wrong mark in The King (Dustin Hoffman) he is given two choices: pull off a near impossible heist or lose his life. Needing all the help he can get Jake brings in beautiful con artist Lily (Rachel Weisz) and a mixed group of "professionals." Nonetheless with The King riding him and a pesky Special Agent (Andy Garcia) on his tail Jake and his team look to have the odds stacked against them.System Requirements:Running Time: 97 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 031398710967 Manufacturer No: 20316 Product Description

Fun to Watch - Buy It

I've seen this movie on cable several times and have enjoyed it each time. Not so much for the plot, although it's not bad, but more for the cast. They're all fun to watch. Even Dustin Hoffman's overacting is a fun ride, and the minor characters are a treat. If you don't expect high art and are in the mood for a good story with compelling actors, you won't be disappointed. How can you argue with Ed Burns, Paul Giamatti, Andy Garcia, and the always very beautiful Rachel Weisz in the same film? The scenes with Burns and Hoffman are especailly good, and the chemistry between Burns and Weisz is for real. Well shot, well paced, well acted, and "Clocks" over the ending credits is a very nice touch. Very well done. You won't be disappointed. September 5, 2008

Weak, weak and weaker; Hoffman's nadir

Wow did this suck. So many good people but such a lame-brained script and plodding direction.
Plus, how the hell did Hoffman take this part? It's a stretch and he doesn't make it, seems almost self-parodistic at times. I love his work in general but this blows.
This flick tries to be post-modern/gleaming hip and fails miserable.
We watched most of it then gave up half an hour before the end; I rarely do that and I love a good crime/con flcik (Matchstick Men!).
Passola. June 7, 2008

Boy team planning a scam

Film in the theme of "Ocean's 11, 12, 13" if you will. We have a team of grifter buddies who get along well and like each other's company, willing to take a high stake scam against the "King" - local mafia boss. It is helping that they have one foxy girl (beautiful Rachel Weisz) to help out the boys with the scam as only the girl can pull. But this film drags and drags with not enough humour to keep the atention span going. There are too many parallel stories going on at once so warning - do not watch this movie while tired - you just will not get it what just happened. I liked Giamatti's performance, but so disappointed that any time Ed Burns is in the film, it is always the same thick NY accent, his dandy looks and some mischief we know he is up to that makes any of his films so darn predictable. Impressive cast, but just no enough to get wider audiences interested. February 19, 2008

A decent attempt at making grifters entertaining....

For a while, most the 90's and early 2000's, twist ending movies lead the way at the local megaplex. While it seems that Bryan Singers' outstanding The Usual Suspects lead this charge, this new "genre" had its own roller coaster ride. The highs ranking up there with movies like The Sixth Sense to the lows with anything else done by M. Night Shyamalan. While Sense was a jaw dropper the first time around, the movie looses its appeal after repeat viewings and falls into a category of a good ghost movie. Today's film, Confidence is a film that follows the same story structure as Suspects, but falters in its story telling and ability to be original.

Confidence opens with the soon to be dead Jake Vig (Edward Burns) having to explain to his executioner why he got himself into this predicament. Jake is a grifter, a good one that has unknowingly stolen thousands from Winston King (Dustin Hoffman) in a grift and, in the aftermath, lost a partner to King's enforcers. Jake sets up a meeting with King in order to set the air clear and promise to pay back the money stolen from the King by doing a grift for him against a person of Kings choosing. King, of course, picks the one person you wouldn't want to grift, an international banker with mob ties. Jake and his crew go about setting up an elaborate scheme to steal millions from the banker, pay off King, and get away with a profit. Of course things go south, people turn on each other and we end up back at the beginning of the film watching the last seconds of Jake Vig's life tick away before our eyes.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the film is Edward Burns voice over work. He states the obvious to many times and really reveals too much and ruins certain scenes. His work on camera is good, ala a blue collar George Clooney in the Ocean's Trilogy. Dustin Hoffman, having joined Jack Nicholson in the "over-the-top villain" club, is a blast to watch. His character oozes a strange evil/kookie vibe that is one of the few original things in the film. Paul Giamatti steals his scenes by out-acting everyone in the scene and Rachel Wiesz does what she does best: being easy on the eyes.

While the movie does not break new ground, it provides an entertaining premise that never really slows down. It keeps up a steady pace with many cut away shots and up tempo music. The scripting is really what bogs down the movie in the end with choosing to show certain parts of the con while leaving others to be played out. It would have been a lot better of the film if they could of worked out some of Jake's voice over into actual scenes in the film, but instead we are subjected to being told what's happening instead of figuring it out for ourselves.

Confidence is a good film for a one or two time showing, after that, the twist become dull and the action very flat. Unlike Suspects, which keeps bringing you coming back with Kevin Spacey's role and the strong musical score, Confidence has a hard time trying to stay original. Think of it as a greatest hits album of con films with too many "B side" tracks worked into the album that make you skip around without going straight through; you have fun, but you won't be satisfied.
November 27, 2007

Style over Substance

Caper movies have been well served in the 90's and to some extent into the noughties. Movies like Ocean's Eleven, The Grifters, Heist and many others, have raised the bar for the con artist on the silver screen. `Confidence' aims high, and just scrapes over the bar, but without much room to spare.
The plot - well, it would spoil it to tell.. but even if I wanted to it would be difficult, as maze-like as it is. Suffice to say, when a con turns out to have inadvertently trodden on a ganglord's toes (Dustin Hoffman), the con-artist (Ed Burns) agrees to pull a huge job to get the money back and keep everyone happy... but who can anyone trust, and what is as it seems?
Great performances abound - the talent on display here is formidable through to the most minor of characters. However, for the most part these fantastic character actors are being called on to play parts which are by their definition artificial. It all works well for the plot, but the sheer cleverness of the whole thing does pull you out of the experience and constantly remind you that this is not real, just a movie.
Having said that, the script is fine, even if lacking that David Mamet style it so much wants to have. Dustin Hoffman in particular benefits from some juicy lines, chewing the scenery as his menacing though dwarf like ganglord with a predilection for sex of any kind. He looks for all the world like Eddy Jordan on speed, turned to a life of crime and hedonism. Ed Burns is a fine actor, but seems a little out of his depth, and Rachel Weisz plays the sexpot admirably well. In the end we do find a satisfying cleverness to the eventual proceedings - But without an investment in the characters that makes us really care one way or the other who did what to who.
It's a stylish movie, and worth watching, but one could have expected more from the talent involved. Watch it, enjoy, and forget it about 5 minutes later.
October 22, 2007

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