Simply A Masterpiece

One of my all time favorites.

Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

In the opening scene of "Confidence", Edward Burns is lying dead in a back alley. He narrates the story as he lies on the pavement. But is he William Holden dead as in "Sunset Boulevard" or is he some other kind of dead? "Confidence" is the perfect title for a heist movie that heists large chunks of plot from "The Sting" without so much as a nod to the original creators. The problem with borrowing so much from a classic film is that it isn't much of a surprise once the audience realises where they have seen it all before. Unfortunately "Confidence" is so confident that it actually telegraphs the ending at the beginning.Edward Burns plays Jake Vig, grifter and conman. He and his team of grifter buddies work a scam on a mark who turns out to be working for a far more serious criminal, Winston King, played with acting chops in overdrive by Dustin Hoffman.When one of the team is killed, Burns and the guys realise that King is out for revenge. Jake decides to head off further payback by approaching King and making him a deal. Jake offers to pull off an even bigger scam that will net millions of dollars for both of them. However revenge for the death of his friend is also on the agenda for Jake.He even asks Winston King to bankroll the deal. Chutzpah and confidence are not only Jake's stock in trade but also his philosophy. "You're good," King says to Jake, "I can't even tell when you're lying." But it's not actually true, you can tell; Burns doesn't have a great range as an actor and the demeanour he adopts here is not a particularly likable one.The scam involves stealing a large sum of money from a former gangster, Morgan Price played by Robert Forster. The plan is to take the money during an exchange of funds with a small, offshore bank. It also involves bringing one of Price's executives into the scam. To achieve this, Burns approaches a prostitute, Lily, to be part of the team, and to seduce the executive.Lily is played by Rachel Weisz who adopts a hard-boiled persona and looks disconcertingly like a drag queen. Whatever the costume designers had in mind, her whole look would make a good subject for a fashion makeover by Trinny and Susannah on "What Not To Wear".Although "Confidence" does possess a certain slickness, the 'f word' is used to the point where it could be a record for any film. Why the filmmakers would sanction such repetition is mystifying, unless it indicates improvisation from the actors – unimaginative improvisation at that. It's just another creative miscalculation among many others in the film.Slick, shallow and far too self-conscious, "Confidence" isn't totally bad. It has enough energy to divert while it plays; it is only when it has finished that its most obvious quality comes into play – it is instantly forgettable.

I'm not even going to waste my time with this movie. I've just got a few things to ask the writer of the script. Hey, is this what you truly think of your audience? Are we crap in your world? Why not just spit on us? I work hard to pay good money ($1.25) to purchase this movie and this is what I get? You know, this goes to prove that if reality was half as bad as Hollywood depicts it, the evil in this world would be four times as bad. And, by the way, thinking twenty moves ahead in a chess game is absurd. Why not have a chihuahua jump off from the Empire State Building onto the Statue of Liberty? Now that would be believable for sure. Is the word stupid written onto my forehead or what? Please, get therapy soon. In the meantime, go find yourself a day job.

A group of con artists plans to swindle millions out of a banker while dealing with a crime boss who wants a cut. Another in a long line of con movies, this one is stylishly directed by Foley. The problem is that Foley's style is extremely annoying, constantly calling attention to himself with his distracting camera-work. The script is anemic, with the dialog relying too much on a certain four-letter word. Burns plays the leader of the con gang, but lacks the charisma to carry this film. Weisz is a capable actress but is pretty much wasted in an inconsequential role. The only bright spot is Hoffman, who is quite amusing as a crime kingpin named "King."

Lets share some cons that we've heard/know of. The gas station change one is pretty cool but I think it's a little sketchy. Here's how it works and btw I'm copying and pasting this from a post. It's quite simple, but you need to be fast, confuse the victim and give him/her no time to think nor count the money. It works this way: You buy something for like $5 bucks, but pay with a $50 (though never leave the money, keep it in your hand) and, when asked for a smaller bill say you don't have any change, but immediately start looking in your wallet or purse to make sure. It is at this moment, when you start looking, that you put away your $50. At this time the cashier will be giving you the change for your bill, then say: "Oh silly me here I have a $5" grab that plus the change the cashier gave you and tell her that she probably needs change, so add the $50 you put away at first with all the other change and tell her you'll give her $100 in change if she gives you a $100 bill. When she does leave quickly, with this con you'd have made $45 bucks.And thats it, let's hear somemore cons that ppl know of !