Amazon.com Essentials:
Annette Bening twists like a mink on a
leash through Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's
novel. This may be the perfect trope for the moral hysteria that coils
around a mother, her son, and his girlfriend in this slender but
highly pleasurable neo-noir. Small in effect and local in
scope, the film is about small-fry, attractive, bloodless con artists
who view the world as neatly split between ropers and suckers, grifters
and squares. "Grifter's got an irresistible urge to beat a guy that's
wise," an old-timer tells Roy (John Cusack). And yet the three
characters here--played by Angelica Huston, Cusack, and Bening--only
beat the innocent: Lilly (Huston) gigs at the track for a mobster
named Bobo, putting wads of cash on long-shot horses to even out the
odds. Roy, her son, swindles citizens by dimes and degrees, flashing
twenties at bars then paying for his beer with tens. His girlfriend,
Myra (Bening), is hustling herself, her salad days as a long-con roper
behind her. Theirs is a world of gut punches and smart lines, and the
adrenaline these cheats and chiselers live by is palpable
onscreen. But a larger canvas? Maybe it's there as a parallel
universe. "What do you sell again?" Myra asks Roy, the matchbook
salesman. "Self-confidence," he says, a wry allusion to the confidence
game all three of them are playing. The movie boasts dazzling turns by
Bening, Cusack, and especially Huston, whose mère fatale
breaks new ground for noir. --Lyall Bush
Amazon.com Essentials:
Annette Bening twists like a mink on a
leash through Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's
novel. This may be the perfect trope for the moral hysteria that coils
around a mother, her son, and his girlfriend in this slender but
highly pleasurable neo-noir. Small in effect and local in
scope, the film is about small-fry, attractive, bloodless con artists
who view the world as neatly split between ropers and suckers, grifters
and squares. "Grifter's got an irresistible urge to beat a guy that's
wise," an old-timer tells Roy (John Cusack). And yet the three
characters here--played by Angelica Huston, Cusack, and Bening--only
beat the innocent: Lilly (Huston) gigs at the track for a mobster
named Bobo, putting wads of cash on long-shot horses to even out the
odds. Roy, her son, swindles citizens by dimes and degrees, flashing
twenties at bars then paying for his beer with tens. His girlfriend,
Myra (Bening), is hustling herself, her salad days as a long-con roper
behind her. Theirs is a world of gut punches and smart lines, and the
adrenaline these cheats and chiselers live by is palpable
onscreen. But a larger canvas? Maybe it's there as a parallel
universe. "What do you sell again?" Myra asks Roy, the matchbook
salesman. "Self-confidence," he says, a wry allusion to the confidence
game all three of them are playing. The movie boasts dazzling turns by
Bening, Cusack, and especially Huston, whose mère fatale
breaks new ground for noir. --Lyall Bush
