Search - Confidence on DVD

One of the better films most people will miss this year.

Ash1138 | Centennial, CO United States | 05/02/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The first thing you will notice when this movie starts is it's independent, low budget feel. The second thing you notice is Ed Burns voice is not suited for voice over narration. It quickly makes you wonder why you came to see this movie and if you just wasted your money.Confidence can easily be summed up as a cross between Oceans Eleven and The Usual Suspects. Sounds great you say? Well, as good as the movie is, it doesn't quite do what the afore mentioned movies do so well. It's sort of gets caught in the middle. This isn't really a complaint as coming close to either of those two films is an acheivement on it's own.The film stars Ed Burns as Jake, the leader of a crew of con men (sound familiar?). At some point in the story, he and his fellows con a victim from a sizable amount of money. As it turns out, that money wasn't his. He was transporting it for organized crime racketeer Mr. King (Dustin Hoffman) who has a reputation of doing not-to-nice things to people who upset him. King wants his money back, and instead of running and hiding (like he should have) Jake confronts him and tells him he'll square the deal by doing a con job for him; letting King take a cut equal to what Jake took from him. King insists that the the mark (victim) of the con be a rival of his (a much bigger rival) and that they take on one of King's men to their crew. Along their way, they pick up Rachel Weis and plan the biggest con of their career. Unfortunately, a long time nemesis Treasury Department agent (played by Andy Garcia) wants Jake in a bad way and has just picked up his trail. What follows is the plot of the film that, like the two films I mentioned earlier, should not be given away. In this post-Usual Suspects/Memento world, the edge of the twists in this film seem a bit dulled. However, the way the film opens up at the end showing you how everything went wrong (reminding your of American Beauty), Confidence grabs you and never lets go inching you closer, compelling you to wonder, "what happened?" "Where did it all go wrong?"You may not be caught totally off guard at the films end, but you will appreciate the way the film got there, and the intelligence of the script. The film has been called "a poor man's Ocean's Eleven", but that is a good thing in a sense, as this films plot and characters are a lot more grounded in reality making the plot much more believable.I thoroughly enjoyed this film and plan to add it to my DVD collection when available (I don't buy many films). Lower production values and some directing inadequecies prevented this film from being better, but in all I still easily give this a four-star rating. If you enjoy smart con/heist/caper movies, I highly recommend you check Confidence out."

A decent attempt at making grifters entertaining....

Austin | Texas | 11/27/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For a while, most the 90's and early 2000's, twist ending movies lead the way at the local megaplex. While it seems that Bryan Singers' outstanding The Usual Suspects lead this charge, this new "genre" had its own roller coaster ride. The highs ranking up there with movies like The Sixth Sense to the lows with anything else done by M. Night Shyamalan. While Sense was a jaw dropper the first time around, the movie looses its appeal after repeat viewings and falls into a category of a good ghost movie. Today's film, Confidence is a film that follows the same story structure as Suspects, but falters in its story telling and ability to be original.

Confidence opens with the soon to be dead Jake Vig (Edward Burns) having to explain to his executioner why he got himself into this predicament. Jake is a grifter, a good one that has unknowingly stolen thousands from Winston King (Dustin Hoffman) in a grift and, in the aftermath, lost a partner to King's enforcers. Jake sets up a meeting with King in order to set the air clear and promise to pay back the money stolen from the King by doing a grift for him against a person of Kings choosing. King, of course, picks the one person you wouldn't want to grift, an international banker with mob ties. Jake and his crew go about setting up an elaborate scheme to steal millions from the banker, pay off King, and get away with a profit. Of course things go south, people turn on each other and we end up back at the beginning of the film watching the last seconds of Jake Vig's life tick away before our eyes.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the film is Edward Burns voice over work. He states the obvious to many times and really reveals too much and ruins certain scenes. His work on camera is good, ala a blue collar George Clooney in the Ocean's Trilogy. Dustin Hoffman, having joined Jack Nicholson in the "over-the-top villain" club, is a blast to watch. His character oozes a strange evil/kookie vibe that is one of the few original things in the film. Paul Giamatti steals his scenes by out-acting everyone in the scene and Rachel Wiesz does what she does best: being easy on the eyes.

While the movie does not break new ground, it provides an entertaining premise that never really slows down. It keeps up a steady pace with many cut away shots and up tempo music. The scripting is really what bogs down the movie in the end with choosing to show certain parts of the con while leaving others to be played out. It would have been a lot better of the film if they could of worked out some of Jake's voice over into actual scenes in the film, but instead we are subjected to being told what's happening instead of figuring it out for ourselves.

Confidence is a good film for a one or two time showing, after that, the twist become dull and the action very flat. Unlike Suspects, which keeps bringing you coming back with Kevin Spacey's role and the strong musical score, Confidence has a hard time trying to stay original. Think of it as a greatest hits album of con films with too many "B side" tracks worked into the album that make you skip around without going straight through; you have fun, but you won't be satisfied.
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