What Jake Vig doesn't know just might get him killed. A sharp and polished grifter, Jake has just swindled thousands of dollars from the unsuspecting Lionel Dolby with the help of his crew. It becomes clear that Lionel wasn't just any mark, he was an accountant for eccentric crime boss Winston King. Jake and his crew will have to stay one step ahead of both the criminals and the cops to finally settle their debt.
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Reviews
Sadly Over-hyped
Great Film overall
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Travis (Morris Chestnut) is holding a gun on Jake Vig (Edward Burns) and the movie goes back 3 weeks earlier. Jake and his crew Big Al (Louis Lombardi), Gordo (Paul Giamatti), Miles (Brian Van Holt), Whitworth (Donal Logue) and Manzano (Luis Guzmán) trick Lionel Dolby (Leland Orser) out of a suitcase full of cash. The problem is that Lionel was suppose to deliver that money to the infamous Mr. King (Dustin Hoffman). To even the score for King, Jake agrees to con Morgan Price (Robert Forster). Lily (Rachel Weisz) is the mysterious pickpocket.This is an amazing group of actors doing solid work. It is a con movie where everybody is working an angle and everything is fake. It's a writing exercise and the main problem is that director James Foley is unable to deliver any tension. Edward Burns may be too cool for school. He needs to show a little fear so that the audience can feel the danger. It's a bit of style and the traditional con mystery. However it doesn't get the heart pumping.
I'm not even going to waste my time with this movie. I've just got a few things to ask the writer of the script. Hey, is this what you truly think of your audience? Are we crap in your world? Why not just spit on us? I work hard to pay good money ($1.25) to purchase this movie and this is what I get? You know, this goes to prove that if reality was half as bad as Hollywood depicts it, the evil in this world would be four times as bad. And, by the way, thinking twenty moves ahead in a chess game is absurd. Why not have a chihuahua jump off from the Empire State Building onto the Statue of Liberty? Now that would be believable for sure. Is the word stupid written onto my forehead or what? Please, get therapy soon. In the meantime, go find yourself a day job.
Add irritating to the summary. Con movies are great when they have unexpected twists and turns and the marks who are being conned are not so dopey that you roll your eyes with exasperation. While there are many twists and turns to this story, most of them you can spot a mile away and it's impossible to fathom how anyone with the least intelligence would fall for them. Writer Doug Jung uses the f-word throughout as though audiences could really give an eff. (Just get on with the story, buddy!) Most of the characterization is so over-written as to be irritating beyond belief. Dustin Hoffman as a sleazy crime-boss gives a performance that out-rivals Bette Davis in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane for sheer hokiness and high camp. A good cast wasted in a script that is so overwritten you want to take a pair of pruning shears and chop it down to a realistic and manageable level. While Doug Jung has indeed gone on to finer things this is a flailing mess of a script that needed a firm hand to shape it into an impressive whole. (Isn't Ed Burns known for his writing ability? One has to assume he wasn't allowed to tamper with this.) Confidence is a one-time watch that requires a LOT of patience. A shame because the idea and talent is there but the execution is lacking.
Enjoyed this film concerning a professional con Jake Vig (Edward Burns), "The River King", who gets in real trouble with Dustin Hoffman,(The King) and has to repay a debit in a big hurry. Dustin Hoffman plays a real bad character who will smile and kill you at the same time or choose to torture you with slow painful results. Rachel Weisz,(Lily), "The Fountain" is an outstanding con-artist herself and very sexy and gets deeply involved with a big heist worth millions of dollars. There is some humor in the night club that The King owns between two so called sisters who have very strong sexual desires for each other and drive the poor King crazy. Great acting by the entire cast and all moving at a rather fast pace. Enjoy.