Confidence

  Plot Summary

Jake Vig (Edward Burns) and his gang of professional conmen have just pulled off another scam and netted a case full of money. But this time there’s a catch. The guy that they have just ripped-off works for crime boss Winston King (Dustin Hoffman). Winston, aka The King, isn’t one bit happy! When one of the conmen is killed Jake goes to the crime boss to strike a deal. They agree to share the spoils of an ambitious financial scam. Jake and his gang start planning and take on a new recruit, Lily (Rachel Weisz)…

Review

This movie could be described as The Sting meets Ocean’s Eleven but this would be an injustice to both of these movies. The ideas behind the story are good but trying to be too clever bogs it down. A simple story told well is far better than a clever story told badly. It really is the story-telling that is the problem. Narratives from the main character, Jake (Edward Burns), try to keep the story on track but long before the end, any interest generated is lost. It’s not that the ending or story isn’t clever it’s just that by the time we get to the end nobody cares! It’s a pity because behind the inadequate story-telling lies the makings of an intelligent movie.

One of the problems is that no connection with the characters is established and this means we are neither surprised nor interested in who’s fooling whom. We know that the characters are all involved somehow and that we don’t know the full story but there is no suspense or excitement that makes it worth trying to “second-guess” what’s going on. In it’s eagerness to make sense of the convoluted story it forgets about suspense and entertainment.

There is a good cast in the movie with Edward Burns playing the main character, Jake.  A love interest develops between Jake (Edward Burns) and Lily (Rachel Weisz) that is interesting, but only because the relationship is as cold and unaffectionate as the characters.  Dustin Hoffman is surprisingly sinister as the crime boss Winston King.

Bottom Line: Could and should have been much better.

Lasting Thought: With regard to his scams Jake says that eventually someone always starts asking the right questions.

Reviewed by Niall Quinn, Premier Movie Reviews 2003

Genre: Thriller

Certificate: 15's

Director: James Foley

~ Main Cast ~

Edward Burns

Dustin Hoffman

Rachel Weisz

Andy Garcia

RATING

ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO