Review: The Brothers Bloom

Grade: A-

The Brothers Bloom is a story about two brothers, Stephen and Bloom, who grow up going from foster home to foster home before they decide to become con men. They grow up and learn to perfect their art of the con and become to be known as the best con men in the world by reputation. When Bloom decides he’s tired of life, tired of acting out his brothers fantasies for the cons and decides he doesn’t want to take the risks anymore while conning people, he “retires” to Montenegro. His brother Stephen, who is determined to pull the perfect con, finds him three months later and convinces him to join him and help in one last con. The target is a very rich and lonely woman named Penelope living in New Jersey. Bloom has to befriend her for the con and she ends up becoming very interested in their fake story and joins them in a trip to Europe where the con takes place unbeknownst to her.

This relatively little known movie was a flash o genius. Writer/Director Rian Johnson (Brick) has delivered a fantastic movie. The script is brilliantly written, has a great plot that keeps you guessing and is full of humor. The characters are excellent. Stephen is an enthusiastic man who loves his work and is determined to pull off the perfect con. Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac, Collateral) does a fantastic job with this role and it is probably one of his best performances. Bloom is the nervous and caring one of the two. He becomes attached to their targets and you can tell the life style bothers him sometimes mostly because he doesn’t like to hurt people. Adrian Brody (King Kong, The Pianist) does a fantastic job with this role. He really did a great job showing the characters feelings and emotions as he grew closer to Penelope. Penelope is a very lonely and rich woman. She lives by herself in an extremely large mansion in New Jersey. She, as she puts it, collects hobbies, she watches other people’s hobbies than learns how to do them. Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardner, The Mummy) does amazingly well with this role. She is surprisingly funny and eccentric and the scene where she shows her hobbies, including Skateboarding, break dancing, juggling, ping pong and riding a unicycle (which apparently she actually learned how to do all of these for the role), is absolutely hilarious. Probably my favorite character in the movie is Bang Bang, the explosives and special effects expert who never talks. Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi does a great job with this role. Since this character never really speaks her role is all about body language and she is hilarious, her subtleties and nuances make this character one of the most entertaining parts of the movie.

The style of the movie was great. Most of it took place around Europe, specifically Belgium and Prague. The scenery is absolutely beautiful as they walk through the wonderful cities. Another thing was that the movie did take place in the present but with the way they dressed it was hard to tell most of the time. Dressing in classic styled suits, hats and dresses was a very interesting style decision. It looked like these characters came straight out of the 20’s or 30’s but work in modern times. It’s an interesting choice but I feel that it actually helps the movie and makes it more intriguing.

The Brothers Bloom is a very clever movie full of humor and twists that will keep you guessing to the very end. It is one of the best con movies I have seen in a very long time and is great entertainment for most anybody. It has some of the best writing I’ve seen all year too. I highly recommend getting out to try and see this movie if you can.

Favorite Quote: “I think you’re constipated… In your soul. You just have a big load of grumpy petrified poop up your soul's ass.”