A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

The Evaluation System Reviews by Title Reviews by Date

Reviews from Video Reviews of the Classics Personal Background

Title: Confidence

Date Viewed: 4/26/03

Details:

Edward Burns

Rachel Weisz

Andy Garcia

Dustin Hoffman

Robert Loggia

Director: James Foley

Score: 1/2

The Review: Someone should develop a taxonomy of the caper movie, little say the con game itself. You have a standard caper formula -- sometimes even played straight, with each individual stage labeled (as in the Oceans 11 remake) -- but there are differences in the genre. How straight is the con? How straight do they play the audience? Who is in the know? How many apparent reversals of fortune? Plus or minus weapons? Is the target crooked or straight? Indeed, how many targets? Is the motivation revenge or is it about the money?

Confidence is about a sting gone screwy, or so it would appear. Burns is the brains behind a team who has separated a mark from a lot of money, and soon discovers that the money was not the mark's to use. Then starts the second con job, but we are not quite tuned in to who's being conned, or out of what; the obvious con is clearly not all that's going on, but the puzzle is left to fester. A bit slow to start, but it picks up as the complexity unravels. The time sequence and flashbacks add a bit of certainty as well as ambiguity -- you know that some things appeared to have worked, but others appeared to have failed, but you are kept in the dark as to which is which.

Dustin Hoffman is good as a slimy kingpin with "an attention deficit problem." Edward Burns is a surprisingly good Ben Affleck look-alike. The two play each other like musical instruments. And Rachel Weisz is always fun to watch.

(26-Apr-03)

Back to the chronological list of reviews