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what kind of movie do you have when everyone is a con artist but nobody has a con?
in brief: the film opens in a remarkably stylish and jazzy way for the time, with 24-style split frames introducing us to our 3 main characters as they each work their cons, or "grifts". unfortunately, british director stephen frears never really gets back to that level of inspired directing, playing the rest of the film pretty straight, as the characters themselves end up doing. more on that later.
i watched this for an alternative mother's day film, and man, why is it that all of these have to have sexual tension with the mothers and the sons?! hollywood writers are f'd up. anyway, much of the early part of the film is actually about the audience trying to figure out what's going on in each of these person's lives, and how they will end up intersecting. well, the acting is so great and the dialogue has enough flair that this first 2/3s of the film is at least a 4-star movie. the problem is where the story devolves to in the last 1/3, so stop reading now if you don't want
spoilers!
what works: both huston and benning play their ages here, which is refreshing. huston was only 15 years older than cusack, her son in the film, but that's actually a year more than the film's story. benning on the other hand plays the "honey pot" role, which involved ample nudity. i've always known her as a fine actress and had no idea she was so smoking hot when she was younger! she looked about 24 to me, but i did the math and she was at least 31 when filming...kudos, miss bening. this was only her third film, and she completely owns it, although huston does bring her own great energy to her role. both were nominated for oscars, and they were well-deserved. cusack is also great, holding his own as a young star on the rise, and trying out the look he would later perfect in grosse pointe blank. there are also great cameos from jeremy piven, stephen toblowsky, xander berkley, jt walsh, and more! besides some homages to psycho and the sting, the performances are really what this film has going for it.
needs fine-tuning: the problem with the film ultimately is that they've set up these very smart, calculating characters with their own angles and motivations, and then suddenly they devolve into the typical dumb criminals you read about in the paper. myra (benning) is short on cash and desperate for the kind of money she used to have. she apparently just thought roy (cusack) was fun, and when she finds he's a grifter, she's willing to risk the relationship to start playing him. all well and good, but then roy doesn't bite, a refreshing choice that inconveniences the screenwriter, who'll now have to find a less typical climax for this movie.
what they end up with is myra using "contacts" she apparently has to get info about lily (huston), who she starts stalking. but rather than pulling some con or simply waiting for an opportunity to rob her, myra's plan is to straight up murder her and forcibly take her secret stash of cash!? where does the leap from elaborate long cons to violent killer come from?! this sets in motion lily's escape, which hinges on her thinking the police coroner will mistake her for a lady 15 years younger and 6 inches shorter than her. okaaaay. and then we're meant to believe that out of desperation, she will attempt to just straight up steal her son's money, rather than run a con. oh, and that's because this career criminal was so smart she kept all of her income in the trunk of her car. these clever characters keep acting recklessly for the whole end of the film, and the coincidences and logical leaps keep piling up. this leads to the kind of hackneyed hays code story where you feel that no matter what, the censors had to show "crime doesn't pay".
best viewed by: people who don't mind when a movie shits the bed at the end, as long as it has an enjoyable beginning and middle. also, those who just want to perv on annette bening, because lawdy is there ample opportunity for that here.
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