[ back ]
The Brothers Bloom
1/2
“The Brothers Bloom” is playing almost exclusively at art theaters like the Savoy. However, the only thing separating it from mainstream movies like “Transformers” is $200 million in box office receipts.
“The Brothers Bloom” is no art film. It is a dumb caper, nothing more. It is no more intelligent or applicable to real life than a story about alien robots.
Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody play Stephen and Bloom, a pair of brothers who make their living by conning people out of their money. Clever Stephen concocts the unnecessarily elaborate 15-part schemes and ingenuous Bloom earns the target’s trust.
The brothers’ latest mark is Penelope Stamp (Rachel Wiesz), a lonely multi-millionaire.
“The Brothers Bloom” is a bad movie primarily due to the failure of its two leading men. Mark Ruffalo is charming and crafty, but other than that he doesn’t have an ounce of personality. Merely being a good con man is not enough development for one of a film’s title characters.
Adrien Brody’s character is more adequately developed, but he is full of unresolved contradictions. On one hand, he constantly complains about being part of Stephen’s schemes and wants out. However, he only seems happy and fully alive when he is in the middle of a good con. And, strangely, neither Bloom nor the movie itself seems to acknowledge that fact.
In one scene Bloom is motivated and jovial. A scene later he is miserably unhappy. The reasons behind his bipolar personality are never explored or explained.
Maybe I’m just a guy and am not supposed to, but I do not understand Adrien Brody’s appeal as an actor.
He always plays the same type: a soulful, vulnerable, deeply damaged man. “The Brothers Bloom” doesn’t really call for a character like that. Brody’s sad puppy dog act felt out of place and made the movie more a downer than it was intended to be.
The picture would have been a train wreck is not for the winning performances by the two leading ladies. Rinko Kikuchi, who was unforgettable as a disturbed teenager in “Babel,” absolutely lights up the screen as the brothers’ silent partner. Silent to the extent that she almost never speaks.
Rachel Wiesz is delightful as Bloom’s love interest/unsuspecting mark.
Wiesz is stuck playing a completely unrealistic character: a sweet, fun-loving, beautiful young heiress who lives alone in a gigantic mansion and has no friends, relatives, or suitors.
To her credit, Wiesz runs with the preposterous premise and shows exactly how a woman like Penelope would act. She is immature, eccentric, and very excited to be out of the house, meeting new people, and having an adventure. Wiesz looks like she had a lot more fun making the movie than I had watching it.
Due to a nonsensical plot that I couldn’t get into and a pair of lead characters that I didn’t care about it, “The Brothers Bloom” was a disappointing night at the movies for me.
[ back ]
