Review of The Grifters (1990) by Seth R — 25 Sep 2009

When it first came out in 1990, "The Grifters" was hailed as a masterpiece. And for sure, the performances by the three leads are outstanding, especially the two female leads, Annette Bening and Anjelica Huston, both of whom put the fatale in femme fatale in this update of an old-fashioned con-job B movie.

On revisiting the film, however, the flaws that critic's knowingly dismissed nearly 20 years ago in their enthusiasm to love it desperately hobble the film. Much of the dialogue is wooden, almost a caricature of B-movie dialogue, but not smart enough to be intentionally funny.

And the weird anomalies of time and place that presumably were intended to give this film, set in then-contemporary southwest United States, its timeless quality by connecting it with mid-century con jobs and petty crooks come across now simply as ineptness. It would have been better to be fully grounded in a place and let the characters and story do the work.

Nevertheless, it's certainly worth watching to see Huston and Bening do their masterful work as top-rate actors, grinding poor sweet John Cusack into pulp.