Review of The Grifters (1990) by Tommy M — 29 May 2009

There's never a bad way to construct a story involving professional con artists and to give them an entire film all to themselves is certainly a necessity; I'm just not convinced that this was the best way to do it.

John Cusack clearly has a special dark tone for acting in movies like this, and along with Huston and Bening, this film certainly doesn't waste any of its performances.

My problem with the film, however, is that I couldn't sympathize with anyone. The greatest potential of any film that uses criminals for its main characters is whether or not it can make us understand why they do the things they do. As I watched this movie, I had virtually no sympathy whatsoever for anyone involved; if they lived, fine. If they got killed, whatever. Either way, none of them really deserved anything short of having their head blown off, or their throat slashed.