Review of The Brothers Bloom (2008) by Ollie W — 08 Nov 2010

A sort of mixed bag of stuff here from Johnson. After 'Brick' - a superb and highly assured debut , 'The Brother's Bloom' is an inconsistent, slightly confused little movie, that never quite gets where it wants to go - hardly the much anticipated return of the highly original film noir auteur.

Whilst there is still much to enjoy in this slightly bumbling tale, it is not quite as sharp, witty, idiosyncratic, or darkly dramatic as it wants to be. Johnson admittedly creates interesting character's (a likable Weisz and cheeky Ruffalo are always good) and coy little set-pieces, and in his script he has some lovely little flourishes of off-beat humor, however, too many cliche's are busted rather than ironically utilized (see "The Bomb's expert", "The twist-ending etc.) and he has bizarrely decided to direct with a sort-of mock Wes Anderson, come contemporary-European style and this, along with an over all feeling of immense smugness sadly lessens what could have been an entertaining experience.

While one has to hope that this is just a minor misstep for Johnson, a slightly indulgent opportunity for him to hone his skills, too much feels borrowed from other established greats, and one is left wishing we saw more of the superb originality of the much loved debut film.

More of your own stuff next time Rian. Thats what we want to see.