(Quirky con artists on the loose - watch out: those are the most dangerous kind...)
CAST: Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Rinku Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane, Maximillian Schell, Zachary Gordon, Max Records.
DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and a couple of marauding shysters - and one seriously dippy heiress - straight ahead...
IT'S LIKE THIS: The heroes of our next review are a couple of particularly naughty boys. You see, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) have been conning people for their money ever since they were children. Their first con was when Stephen was 13 and Bloom was 10, and they somehow convinced a bunch of their dipshit friends that there was treasure in a cave deep in the woods. Obviously having seen THE GOONIES one too many times, the kids fell hard for Stephen and Bloom's schpiel, and paid an "entrance fee" to the cave. As you can imagine, their parents weren't too thrilled when they learned where the kids' allowance money went to.
Flash forward some, oh, 20-25 years later, and we find that our lovable scoundrels are still out there scoundreling - and banking some nice dough, thank you very much. However, while Stephen is content to keep on doing this larcenous and scoundrelly shit, baby bro Bloom, on the other hand, yearns to start over and live a con-free life. You know what that means, right: one last big score, then the boys will go straight. Well, you know what I mean...
Anyhow, the boys and their goofy # 3 Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) set their sights on Penelope (Rachel Weisz), a fabulously wealthy chick whose New Jersey estate looks like it could house Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Wild Waves, and still have a couple dozen acres for a soccer training facility. I should also add that Penelope is a classic example of when one has too much money and too much spare time. She basically spends her days, um, "collecting hobbies" such as gymnastic skateboarding, breakdancing, and juggling chainsaws on stilts. Yes, folks: this is one chick that could use some adventure.
Before you know it, Stephen, Bloom, and Bang Bang have roped Penelope into a complicated scheme that involves taking a steamboat all the way to Europe, then trying to steal a centuries-old prayer book from a museum in Prague. Really. Would I make this shit up? If it were up to me I'd have the four of them just go to L.A. and try to break into the costume department at Dreamworks to see if they can steal Russell Crowe's gladiator outfit.
So... will our crazy quartet succeed in stealing the prayerbook? Or is it really an elaborate con to rip off Penelope? Is Penelope actually a few steps ahead of everyone else? Does she have her own con going? Who's fucking around with who here? What happens when a fat bastard called The Belgian (Robbie Coltrane) gets involved? And what about the mysterious dude called Diamond Dog (Maximillian Schell) who is the Brothers Bloom's mortal enemy? What happens when he joins the party? Will anyone live to tell this tale?
Well, like I've always said: "in a game of cat and mouse, you have to know who is the cat and who is the mouse..." Actually, it's more exciting if you don't know....
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Watching THE BROTHERS BLOOM, you can't help but feel writer/director Rian Johnson was somehow influenced by the work of Wes Anderson. Anderson wrote and directed such quirky, surreal, and droll fare as THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, and the upcoming MOONRISE KINGDOM. I'm a huge fan of Anderson's work, and he manages the delicate juggling act of blending eccentricity with emotion without upsetting the balance. Not everyone can do this, and further proof of that arrives with our latest review.
THE BROTHERS BLOOM seems to be modeled after Anderson's quirky and whimsical template. Unfortunately, writer/director Rian Johnson doesn't quite manage the perfect balance of quirk, whimsy, and pathos that Anderson can do in his sleep. That's not to say, however, that THE BROTHERS BLOOM is a bad film. Far from it. It is well-acted and well-made. The problem, though, lies in the aforementioned inability of Johnson to blend the film's different tones seamlessly, resulting in some jarring changes in tone.
The other issue is the fact that this film is, at its heart, a Bromance - yet Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody are simply not believable as brothers. It goes beyond just physical looks, although that is a start: Ruffalo has a classic Italian handsomeness, while Brody's features are more atypically and unconventionally Anglo. All this might not have mattered if the chemistry between them was potent. Unfortunately, it is non-existent and this affects their scenes together. Ruffalo and Brody are fine in their individual scenes with the other characters, but together they generate no warmth or sparks - the way brothers who deeply love each other but are sometimes in conflict should. Since we can't really buy into Stephen and Bloom's connection, the emotional center of THE BROTHERS BLOOM is off. As a result, the climactic encounter between Stephen and Bloom falls somewhat flat.
Fortunately, there is Bloom's gradually-blooming connection to Penelope, whom Rachel Weisz beautifully plays in all her weird, quirky, nonconformist glory. There is a genuine sense of kindred spirits meeting in their interactions, which helps the film considerably. Some of THE BROTHERS BLOOM's best scenes stem from Bloom and Penelope's relationship arc. If Brody doesn't quite click with Ruffalo, he more than clicks with Weisz, all to the better of the film. I can only imagine how this might have turned out if the Bloom-Penelope angle had been as tepid as the Bloom-Stephen one.
Rinko Kikuchi is an added delight as the near-silent Bang Bang, who acts like a non-verbal Peanut Gallery to the shenanigans of the other three in the group. Her gestures, expressions, and one hilarious line of dialogue help give THE BROTHERS BLOOM some of the quirky Wes Anderson flavor that it so obviously craves. Robbie Coltrane is similarly appealing as The Belgian, although he ultimately doesn't get as much screentime as the lead quartet.
In the end, THE BROTHERS BLOOM is an above average film that would've rated considerably higher if the central "romance" of the film - the bromance between Stephen and Bloom - had been a compelling one. Had this emotional hook been effective, and had the film's tone been as seamless as Wes Anderson's films, Rian Johnson might've had a classic on his hands. As it is, it's merely a cut above okay.
In closing, please enjoy a track from THE BROTHERS BLOOM's score by Nathan Johnson. This track is titled "Penelope's Theme" and is a light, sweet ode to the movie's heroine...
