Wunderkind Rian Johnson follows-up his debut Brick with another piece of anachronistic filmaking. Steven (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) are brothers and con men who dress and live like it’s the 1920’s. Steven is the brains of the outfit and Bloom is the heart. Their wheelman and explosives expert is the appropriately named Bang Bang, played hilariously and also entirely mutely by Rinko Kikuchi. And of course, every con needs a mark – the offbeat to-say-the-least Penelope (Rachel Weisz) fills the bill here. Steven’s one admonition to his brother is that he cannot fall in love with Penelope…
While The Brothers Bloom does not reach the lofty heights of Brick, it’s a fun ride nonetheless. It’s sort of like a Wes Anderson movie made by someone with real talent (Rushmore and Bottle Rocket notwithstanding). The con man genre has been done to death, and Johnson doesn’t really re-invent it with this movie. But, his cast is really awesome, and his quirky touches will generate many giggles.
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