The Brothers Bloom

Directed by Rian Johnson

(PG-13)

**

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A pair of conniving brothers tries to trick a wacky heiress.

The Brothers Bloom is the “movie equivalent of an elaborate juggling act,” said Stephen Holden in The New York Times. For all the tricks that writer-director Rian Johnson tosses into his “globe-trotting caper comedy,” the film “never lands.” Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo are the brothers Bloom, two con men who plan to pull off one last job—on a wealthy eccentric, amusingly played by Rachel Weisz. The technicalities of the scam itself don’t really seem to matter, said Christy Lemire in the Associated Press. Johnson packs his film with so many anomalous characters, exotic destinations, “anachronistic wardrobe choices, and twee title cards announcing new chapters” that you pretty much forget the plot. The Brothers Bloom essentially becomes a Wes Anderson film, “something that’s idiosyncratic enough to qualify as a genre all its own.” Young director Johnson clearly aspired to greatness, but his film “offers much milder pleasures,” said Keith Phipps in The Onion. Though audiences will admire the film’s craft and technical prowess, by the end they’ll feel conned.