Confidence Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)May 12th, 2003
CONFIDENCE
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is another one of those tricky con-game films for which the audience has to try to figure out who is really doing what to whom. Edward Burns is weak in the lead, but there is an interesting and pivotal role for Dustin Hoffman, albeit a small one. The
puzzle is complex enough but the film seems to lack life. The writing seems artificial. Rating: 6
(0 to 10), +1 (-4 to +4). [Minor spoilers.]
Film fans frequently talk about the good and bad things that the computer has done for special effects. It has made them more complex and more technically perfect but also more artificial and less believable. We are drawn into them a lot less. They seem less organic. What fewer people notice is that the computer seems to have done much the same thing for script-writing. What do I mean by that? When scripts were typed on paper with a typewriter it was a lot of work to go back to an earlier scene and add three lines to tie up a loose end. Before the scriptwriter started typing he had to have thought out the story in detail and fully understand it. These days it is a lot easier. Not easy, perhaps, but easier. A scriptwriter can jump all over the screenplay and revise scenes here and there once other scenes are written. Entire subplots can be added and dropped into place. It took real genius for Frederick Knott to create a character like Tony Wendice in DIAL M FOR MURDER who seems so ready for any eventuality. Today, creating that sort of character just takes some attention to detail. And because the writer need not be so involved with the characters, neither is the audience.
CONFIDENCE is a film that pulls the rug out from under the viewer, not once but multiple times. But it still has the feel of a sterile writing exercise assembled in a computer. It stars Edward Burns as Jake Vig. Burns is an actor who follows the old Spencer Tracy advice: he knows his lines and does not bump into the furniture. But you feel roughly the same vibes coming from him while he is waiting for someone to shoot him in the head or waiting to make love to Lily (Rachel Weisz).
The story is told in flashback, improbably to that man who has that gun at the back of Jake's head. In flashback Jake tells the story of how he came to this sad turning. Jake heads a team of four grifters including the downbeat Gordo (played by the watchable Paul Giamatti). They pull a con to rob the wrong man, a collector for kingpin Mr. King (Dustin Hoffman). King wants his money back. King generally gets what he wants. But Jake no longer has the money. King suggests that Jake run a big con on a high profile corporate banker (Robert Forster in maybe one or two quick shots). Jake adds a couple of new members to his team including Lily, a beautiful pickpocket inexperienced at con games.
Something should be said about Mr. King. This film is being promoted as if Dustin Hoffman's King is a major character in the film. He isn't. At least he isn't if you count screen time. But of course Dustin Hoffman is a more interesting actor than Edward Burns and CONFIDENCE could be People's Exhibit A. Also though Hoffman has a small part he hangs over the whole film and is the reason people do what they do in the film. He's scary and sharp as a knife. The talkative hood covers his criminal activity by running a strip club. He seems at first like Ratso Rizzo with thirty extra IQ points, but deep down he has inviolable principles. For example, lesbian acts are okay for his club but not with sisters. King laughs at Jake's neat appearance. "Style can get you killed." Hoffman does not have a big part but he has the best dialog and his scenes are the ones that will be remembered.
CONFIDENCE has a good cast with some familiar actors in minor roles. Andy Garcia plays Gunther Butan, a mysterious federal agent who knows there is something illegal going on and clearly has something he wants. Rachel Wiesz as Lily is probably best known from the Mummy movies, though she was also in SUNSHINE. Also Jake uses some crooked cops occasionally, one played by Luis Guzman. But the actor people will remember is Hoffman.
Even the title has multiple meanings in this tricky film. The plot is interesting, but the characters are not really flesh and blood. It is almost as if the film was merely a logic puzzle. I rate it a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
Mark R. Leeper
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Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
