The Brothers Bloom

Released in the UK one year after its poor performance in the US, it is a surprise that The Brothers Bloom has eventually plodded into cinemas. Written and directed by Rian Johnson and is his follow up to cult favourite Brick, The Brothers Bloom is an uneven, wacky con-movie.
Brothers Bloom (Adrien Brody) and Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) are con men; Stephen is the brains, whilst Bloom is the player. Stephen concocts fabulous cons and gives the job to Bloom to execute, having worked together double crossing people Bloom is becoming disillusioned and depressed with the life his brother has written for him. The brothers decide to do one final con, alongside silent right hand woman BangBang (Rinko Kikuchi) and target lonely ‘epileptic photographer’ heiress Penelope (Rachel Weiz). Thus begins a romp around the world as Penelope is seduced by the adventure the brothers take her on whilst Bloom begins developing feelings for Penelope.
A fundamental problem is the lack of chemistry, zing or even any substantial scenes between the two brothers. For a film entitled The Brothers Bloom, there is not much about the brothers as a team, focusing instead on Bloom and Penelope’s blossoming and rather boring romance. We do not get a real sense of the brother’s relationship, their love or who they are, despite an overlong misjudged pre-credits childhood sequence.
The comedy is very uneven; moments of slapstick litter the film awkwardly, usually involving Penelope’s epilepsy, animals drinking alcohol or a car crashing. Ruffalo and Kikuchi have greater comedic timing than Brody and Weiz, yet are sidelined in comparison to the two weaker leads. Weiz is charming enough but Brody looks and feels uncomfortable.
Fortunately, there is fun to be had from the supporting characters. BangBang (Kikuchi) in a nearly silent role is easily the most interesting character and most fun to watch, her bad ass attitude and stunning good looks bring some much needed zing to the piece. Robbie Coltrane’s fun Belgian con artist is genuinely amusing; it is a pity he disappears half way.
The pacing is fine and the film at least zips along merrily for the first hour, however, the final act starts to drag as the story shifts gear to an emotional thriller. However, the characters are not developed and are far too smug and unlikeable to care for, making the shift unsatisfactory and leading to a disappointing cop-out ending. This leads to the problem of tone, Johnson does not really settle on what he wants to do; it seems he has crammed everything he had into The Brothers Bloom so it is bursting with too many elements, genres and ideas being in; ultimately losing focus and failing to deliver, except on a technical level. The visuals are stunning and the editing techniques are flashy and echo the moments of brilliance Johnson displayed in Brick.
Like the beginning of an underperforming stage musical, The Brothers Bloom opens with fireworks, explosive jazz music and shining lights and is technically and visually great. However, like a stage musical, is littered with cheap tricks and gimmicks with no plot to speak of, or at least a plot that is all over place. The narrator misleadingly tells us ‘we ain’t ever seen a con story like this before’ –– well we have, and we’ve seen it done better.