Is there anything worse than a conman? Obviously there are (for instance serial killers and politicians to name a couple), but I personally greatly despise the conmen out there that prey on the poor, the fixed-income retired folks, and the disaster victims that you far too often hear about from the media. Then along comes a film like Confidence that almost makes the conman palatable, but for the fact that these characters are not your run-of-the-mill con artists, instead they prey on greedy individuals that can normally afford to lose a few bucks.

As in many movies these days, the film begins with a glimpse of what the ending will look like (but just a little teaser). Anyhow, Confidence really starts with what appears to be some sort of illegal transaction gone wrong. You have Jake (Edward Burns, Life or Something Like It) shooting the guy that he's supposed to be making a deal with and then becoming embroiled in an armed standoff with the bar owner. This causes the mark to take off without his money just before the police arrive. As it turns out, the guy he shot is Gordo (Paul Giamatti, Big Fat Liar), who is part of Jake's crew, as is the bar owner Miles (Brian Van Holt, Basic). Plus the shooting was fake and the cops that show up are on the take. So all of them take a cut of the loot, including an apparent witness, Big Al (Louis Lombardi, The Hot Chick), who is also part of the gang, until he gets murdered the next day. He is killed because the gang unwittingly conned a crime lord named The King's accountant (the accountant 'borrowed' the money from The King). The King (Dustin Hoffman, Wag the Dog) has ADHD (I'll always call it ADD), likes porn, hates it when people rip him off, has a very brutal side, and would love to be viewed as a legitimate business man like a 'rival' crime lord. So, to make things good with The King (and prevent more killings), Jake goes to The King to propose that he work some confidence scams to pay back what was stolen. The King takes a liking to Jake, and so he accepts, but insists that Jake con his rival Morgan Price (Robert Forster, Like Mike), and he has to use The King's guy Lupus (Franky G.) on the job. It turns out that this will be a big job, so Jake gets the crew together and then enlists a new member in the sexy Lily (Rachel Weisz, About A Boy). So everything is set until custom's agent Gunther Butan (Andy Garcia, Ocean's Eleven) starts nosing around (apparently he has a long standing grudge against Jake) and blackmails Jake's dirty cops Whitworth (Donal Logue, The Patriot) and Manzano (Luis Guzman, Anger Management) into keeping a real eye on Jake. However, like in con games, not all is how it appears to be, as anyone can sell out anyone because as the old saying goes, there is no honor among thieves.

Confidence ended up being a surprisingly interesting tale from director James Foley and writer Doug Jung. Some of the twists and turns in the plot were predictable, but not all of them. Foley did an excellent job of not giving away too much too soon in the foreshadowing. Some others in the film are Morris Chestnut, John Carroll, Leland Orser, Robert Pine, Michelle Ruben, and Mary Portser.

This dark film is somewhat violent, but not out of context. Everything works as we learn some inner details of how the confidence game is played, though as I stated earlier, these are not your normal con artists. Hoffman is great as the hyper crime boss, and Edward Burns does well in his role. In the end, I give Confidence eight couches out of ten.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:46:15 AM

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