The Brothers Bloom (***½)

Directed by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz, Rinko Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane
Seen: July 3rd 2009

***½ Out of ****

Bloom (Brody) and Stephen (Ruffalo) are con-men. The Brothers Bloom wastes no time in introducing us to the two brothers as con-men from a young age. Things started out after Stephen and Bloom are “returned” from yet another foster home, and find it a bit difficult to fit in with the regular kids. Bloom is forced to go talk to a girl by Stephen, which becomes their trademark first move in most cons later on. As they gloriously complete their first con, Stephen tells Bloom that the best cons are those where everyone thinks they actually got something out of the deal.

Every con Stephen has ever written revolves around Bloom, which is, I believe, why the film is called The Brothers Bloom. But Bloom is getting sick of this, and after a con involving him getting (fake) murdered he runs off, telling Stephen to not look for him. But Stephen eventually goes looking for him, and finds him to sell a new con, with the mark being Penelope Stamp (Weisz), a very eccentric, extremely rich young woman living alone in a mansion in New Jersey. Bloom is called in to approach her, and by approach Stephen means crashing spectacularly off his bike in front of her yellow Lamborghini close to her home. Bloom and Penelope start a friendship, with Bloom slowly doing what Stephen warns him against, falling in love with Penelope.

As they leave on a steam ship towards St. Petersburg for the initiation of the con, the plot keeps twisting and turning and you never quite know who to trust and who not to. Not that it matters in the least, because he journey there (and, indeed, through the film’s plot) is more entertaining than you would think. Bang Bang (Kikuchi), their loyal sidekick and explosives expert, who just “appeared” in their lives a few years ago, is extremely funny, or shall I rather say her actions are, because apart from a karaoke song she utters a sum-total of three words in the entire movie. The Belgian/Curator (Coltrane) also joins them on the cruiser, and he is the catalyst who starts throwing doubt upon everything that happens.

The film had the whole audience laughing out loud during its first and very zany half, involving the setup of the plot, and on the edge of their seats trying to keep up with what happens during the second half and climax of the plot. Brody and Ruffalo play extremely well off each other as brothers, Weisz is adorable as the slightly loopy lady who collects hobbies, Kikuchi silently steals your heart as Bang Bang, and Coltrane is quite daunting as the Curator/Belgian.

This film works on so many levels that I would love to see it again and dig deeper into the intrigue. Unlike some other supposedly clever films, this one does not drown in its own twists and turns, but rather revels in it, and to think it’s only director Rian Johnson’s second feature-length film (his first being the brilliant indie-film Brick, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is in The Brothers Bloom for about three seconds, as a passing thought almost))! The Brothers Bloom is one of the most entertaining and involving films I’ve seen in quite some time, and I have absolutely no qualms in recommending it highly to anyone.