The Brothers Bloom (2008)

The beginning of The Brothers Bloom was fun. It has a fairy-tale style opening with rhyming voice-over that I found charming. The crux of the story rests on the relationship between the two brothers played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody. Except, about halfway through the film, the crux of the story stops relying on the relationship between the two brothers and starts relying on the cons.
For a while, it had me. Just when I thought “Maybe Mark Ruffalo is actually conning Adrien Brody” Mark Ruffalo says to Adrien Brody “You’re the last person I would ever con.” Touche, Brothers Bloom. But as it progresses, it gets caught up in its cutesy con craziness and when the audience loses track of who is actually caring about what, the audience stops caring about anything. When we finally reach the end and the final con that we know is coming, it makes no sense. Movie lost.

If you particularly like any of the actors, it’s a fun enough movie to sit through. Rachel Weisz was very endearing – especially in the beginning – and Rinko Kikuchi as Bang Bang was also fun. It was four good actors being overshadowed by a script that was trying too hard to be clever.

Alas, I am still left waiting for another brilliant Mark Ruffalo performance.