Movie review: The Brothers Bloom

by Susan Kandell

[Ed. note: the following review appears in its entirety on PopSyndicate, and is posted here with permission.]

The Brothers Bloom is a quirky, romantic com-dram (lots of laughs and a hefty dose of drama) with characters whose names are lifted straight outta Ulysses.

The film depicts the story of the Bloom brothers (Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo) who just happen to be the best con men in the world (this is before Bernie Madoff, of course!). Their schemes involve complex scenarios which necessitate the aid of a female accomplice named Bang-Bang (Rinko Kikuchi, channeling Harpo Marx – which is fine since she doesn’t speak much English anyway). They swindle and con their way around the world until they meet up with their mark Penelope (Rachel Weisz) – a lovely, but eccentric heiress who is prone to crashing her yellow Lamborghinis (that’s right, plural).

Like the Lamborghinis, the film winds around a convoluted plot. The question is, just who is scamming whom? And it keeps you guessing until the final credits roll.

Along the lines of the dinner party scenario in Tim Burton’s Beetle Juice, there is one scene that is destined to be a classic. As the poor, sheltered rich girl, Penelope describes her many talents to Bloom (Adrien Brody). The visuals are priceless and I may actually have to go see it again just for these five delightful minutes.

As the opening night feature of the 2009 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival, The Brothers Bloom red carpet was strolled on by none-other then the Academy Award winning star Adrien Brody (The Pianist), writer/director of the film, Rian Johnson (Brick) and Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel).

I didn’t get to speak with Adrien Brody, which was too bad since we are alums of the same college and I wanted to reminisce about Queens – but I did get to chat with the director, Rian Johnson who was charming and effusive. All in all, the evening was just “picture perfect.” Johnson is a talented, young director and I expect to see some even better work from him in years to come.

Susan Kandell, in addition to being a PegNews user, writes movie reviews for PopSyndicate.