Review of The Brothers Bloom (2008) by Blake P — 02 Sep 2012

I've always been one to hate the famous cliche of the "one last heist" movie. But since "The Brothers Bloom" seems to attempt to be a little more playful about it, I decided to give it a shot.

And well, I still can't decide if I like it or not. A movie about grifters in the most basic sense, "The Brothers Bloom" is a lot better than most action comedies because it never takes the easy way out.

Writer/director Rian Johnson is obviously in control of his vision. Creating vivid story-lines, and whimsy that's a little strong but at times is hard to resist, he keeps his tongue firmly in cheek, and instead we gets lots and lots of screwball comedy kinds of moments.

Funny characters seem to thrive on this movie, and he creates some good ones, and the actors all deliver; and, there's ultra-stylized camerawork to boot. The problem is, is that I never felt like Johnson really keeps the right tone.

There are so many lovely scenes, many of them being fun (the characters Penelope (Rachel Weisz), who is so lovable in her social awkwardness, and scene stealing Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), whose deadpan style comes to the film's benefit), but then the tone dramatically shifts to serious drama, almost always involving one of those silly "brother to brother" moments.

And the characters are all so paper thin that you feel like the only thing you know about them is their hobbies. The shifts in tone are somewhat jarring, and by the end of the movie (which could have been 20 minutes shorter) you really don't mind what happens, but in the end, I found that this film's tendency to be more whimsical made it good-natured: that's why "The Brothers Bloom" is so difficult to figure out-- it's so sweet, likable, and well-meaning .

.. but it's also so focused on style, that it seems that Rian Johnson is attempting to be Wes Anderson. Find out for yourself.