The Brothers Bloom

For about 80 minutes I felt like I was watching one of the more entertaining films I had seen this year. The plot follows two brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody - whose parents must have hated him since they named him Bloom Bloom), who've made their way through life working as con-men. Like all classic con movies one of the partners (Bloom) wants out, and the other has to talk him into one last score. So far so good. I loved the universe that the film creates where its set in the present day but everybody still dresses like it's the 1920's and talks like they're part of a gangster film. The proceedings initially have a nice breezy feel reminiscent of other great con films (like the Sting). I was settling in nicely for the ride when unfortunately over the last half an hour the film jumps the rails. It suddenly decides it wants to say something serious about humanity (always a mistake when you've spent the whole time up to that point treating the proceedings in a considerbly lighter matter) and tries to pull off some unearned emotional moments. The plot also gets needlessly convoluted and complicated over this span. Now complication can be good in Con films, but here it just felt tedious and I found myself wanting them to get the point already. I'm probably being a little harder on the last third of the film than necessary, but I was getting so much enjoyment up to that point that the radical tonal shift just left me feeling frusturated. I don't think anyone should avoid checking it out, but just be ready to feel letdown.