Review of The Grifters (1990) by Spangle — 25 Jun 2015
The Grifters ultimately left me feeling quite disappointed. The ending is quite intriguing and well done, but the first three quarters of the film are pretty terrible. Though John Cusack is strong and the premise is interesting, the premise winds up being the only interesting part for much of the film as it winds up just dragging along and never really feeling like anything ever happens.
Anjelica Huston is terrible here (seriously, her pronunciation of Los Angeles made me question my decision to watch this one at all) and Annette Benning is alright, but her character is so poorly written and sexist, it is appalling.
Honestly, her character is resigned to being nothing more than an object to have sex with, in spite of showing some serious talents as a "grifter". Anyways, the last little bit does save this one from being worse because it is interesting and the film itself is well made, though the direction from Stephen Frears was quite disappointing to say the least.
Overall, The Grifters is a sub-par film that should have been way better than it was.
This review of The Grifters (1990) was written by Spangle on 25 Jun 2015.
The Grifters has generally received positive reviews.
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