- Title: Confidence
- IMDb: link
“Tommy Suits always said ‘a confidence game is like putting on a play where everyone knows their part: the inside man, the roper, the shills, everyone that is, except for the mark.'”
Every once in awhile you run across a film in the DVD aisle and say to yourself, “What is that?” That’s how I came across Confidence. Released in theaters in 2003 the film takes a look at a group of con artists whose latest con has gone south and their last ditch attempt to rectify the situation, get out from behind the thumb of a crime boss, and perform the biggest con of their lives.
Jake Vig (Edward Burns) and his team of con men have just pulled off another successful con. Everything should be gravy, but then the other shoe drops. It turns out the money they’ve taken belongs to an unforgiving crime boss (Dustin Hoffman), and then, when one of the team ends up dead (Louis Lombardi), they realize they have stepped into a whole new league.
Now Jake, Gordo (Paul Giamatti), and Miles (Brian Van Holt) must perform a job for the King (Hoffman), trust a mysterious woman (Rachel Weisz), stay ahead of the Federal Agent (Andy Garcia) on their tail who has turned his crooked cop buddies (Luis Guzman, Donal Logue) and try not to get killed or, worse yet, caught.
The film is well cast and these talented actors have fun working together and off of each other. Hoffman’s casting as a sociopathic crime boss is a little odd (and more than a little over the top) but it is kinda fun to see him in such a different role. Everyone else fits their roles well and Burns and Weisz pull-off a nice mixture of chemistry and animosity.
As a connoisseur of heist and grift films I enjoyed Confidence. It’s not on the level of the Ocean’s Eleven films, but with such a star-studded cast, some nice camera work, and some good twist and turns it can make for a fun couple of hours. The disc includes enough extras for you to give this one a serious look,