THE BROTHERS BLOOM
Directed by Rian Johnson
Starring Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo
Rated M
Out Now

We can judge how well a con-man movie works by whether we’re willing to sit through it again once all the cards have been put on the table. Movies like Duplicity and The Spanish Prisoner are one-use only, whereas it’s a pleasure to revisit The Sting and The Grifters because they're as much about the characters as the capers. The Brothers Bloom falls happily into the latter category and should develop a cult following on DVD after its tiny theatrical run.   

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, whose debut Brick was both precocious and pretentious in its homage to film noir, The Brothers Bloom delves back even further  into the Golden Age of cinema, but does so more winningly. We get this first and foremost in that its centres around Rachel Weisz’s Penelope Stamp. She’s an heiress – idly eccentric and seeking love and adventure – in the mould of Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night or Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, rather than in our dispiriting modern-day conception of the term, as fostered by Paris Hilton or the late Casey Johnson. Throw in the film’s card tricks, stream ship journey and con-based romantic reversals and you’re also pleasantly reminded of The Lady Eve. But instead of that classic’s father-daughter grifter team, we have the title brothers whose actual names, confusingly, are Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody). They’re assisted by Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), their mostly mute Girl Friday, whose explosive talents will play a part in Stephen's convoluted plan to make Penelope fall in love with Bloom as they dupe her into taking part in an antique-smuggling scenario in Europe. Got it? Doesn’t matter because it only plays that way at first.  

Play is the key word here. The mood and style is exuberant; Johnson’s in love with the characters and the story, as are his actors. Rachel Weisz owns the film - it's no coincidence that Johnson conceived her character first - as the socially awkward scatterbrain who has filled her time by learning to juggle, breakdance, rap and master an orchestra’s worth of instruments. Penelope could come off as a cartoon but, thanks to the Oscar winner’s blemished beauty and intense inner joy, she’s one of the most lovable screen kooks in recent memory. The boys are appealing, too, with Ruffalo all laidback sexy confidence while Brody creates a weary nerviness that’s fitting after a lifetime spent playing roles so as to rip people off. Kikuchi, best known for her wordless performance in Babel, here excels in silent physical comedy, her mysterious moves hinting that Bang Bang would be worthy of her own movie.  

One of the lovely things about The Brothers Bloom is that there’s always a lot going on, some of it central, such as the schematic plans to execute cons, some of it merely marginalia meant to simply amuse and create atmosphere, as when Stephen and Bang Bang hold up scorecards to rate Bloom’s attempt to crash-meet-cute Penelope. There is a bittersweet sting in the tale – a dark turn about sibling devotion and the need to live an "unwritten life" - but the movie is mostly about the journey. It's whimsical and giddy but also genuine and romantic, with Johnson's use of his cousin Nathan's gorgeous soundtrack, archaic transport and dapper costuming, yesteryear sets and locations like Montenegro and Prague, all contributing to a sweet Old World charm.  

No doubt The Brothers Bloom ranks as a contrivance but isn't that what cinema - and cons - are all about? And we can’t help but fall victim to the best ones.   Disappointingly, though, for such a rich and finely put together film, the making-of featurette is an assemblage of fairly random behind-the-scenes footage. But the surfeit of deleted sequences, some of them rather good, at least benefit from Johnson explaining why they were axed.

Film: 4 stars
Extras: 2 1/2 stars

You can view The Brothers Bloom movie trailer here on TheVine.