Release Date:
04/25/2003
Ed Burns has served plenty of time in the chick-flick penalty box, so we were a little skeptical about his presence at the center of a con-mano y con-mano grift-off. Now that we’ve seen it, we can safely say he doesn’t do any harm to Confidence—you could even say he holds his own. (But then we’d have to beat you up.)
Burns plays slick grifter Jake Vig, who swindles money from the wrong guy’s wallet, leading him to an eccentric crime boss known as the King (Dustin Hoffman). Vig is backed into pulling off the heist of his shady career in order to repay him. So he assembles his whole crew: right- and left-hand men (Paul Giamatti and Brian Van Holt), corrupt police officers (Donal Logue and Luis Guzman), and, just for good measure, a new addition—the mysteriously hot pickpocket (Rachel Weisz). Complicating matters (and making this review a sentence longer) are the additions of an FBI agent (Andy Garcia) and a henchman (Morris Chestnut). But before you can say, “Morris Chestnut?” alliances flip-flop until you’re all confused—and a little tingly. Burns mutes his nasal-whine several octaves to make for a believable badass (if only for one movie), and Hoffman cashes in on the creep as a villain not afraid to bark out orders during a pedicure. Weisz pops in and out of her outfits with the story’s every twist, and the rest of the cast lives up to each of their respectively slimy roles. Enjoy trying to figure out who the hell knows what’s really going on during the movie—then run home and ruin it for your friends.
Burns plays slick grifter Jake Vig, who swindles money from the wrong guy’s wallet, leading him to an eccentric crime boss known as the King (Dustin Hoffman). Vig is backed into pulling off the heist of his shady career in order to repay him. So he assembles his whole crew: right- and left-hand men (Paul Giamatti and Brian Van Holt), corrupt police officers (Donal Logue and Luis Guzman), and, just for good measure, a new addition—the mysteriously hot pickpocket (Rachel Weisz). Complicating matters (and making this review a sentence longer) are the additions of an FBI agent (Andy Garcia) and a henchman (Morris Chestnut). But before you can say, “Morris Chestnut?” alliances flip-flop until you’re all confused—and a little tingly. Burns mutes his nasal-whine several octaves to make for a believable badass (if only for one movie), and Hoffman cashes in on the creep as a villain not afraid to bark out orders during a pedicure. Weisz pops in and out of her outfits with the story’s every twist, and the rest of the cast lives up to each of their respectively slimy roles. Enjoy trying to figure out who the hell knows what’s really going on during the movie—then run home and ruin it for your friends.