Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42416 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-09-16
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
Bathed in self-conscious cool, Confidence is a heist caper in which the heist is unimportant. As you might expect from Glengarry Glen Ross director James Foley, this pulpy concoction is more interested in giving good actors a lot of hip, salty dialogue as they scheme their way to the royal scam. It's a poor man's Ocean's Eleven, just as enjoyable in its own way, beginning when con artist Jake (Edward Burns) discovers he's accidentally stolen from an eccentric crime boss (Dustin Hoffman, oozing threat in a fine character turn). Promising to make amends by pulling the biggest con of his career, Jake adds a feisty pickpocket (Rachel Weisz) to his crew, which includes scene-stealer Paul Giammatti and Andy Garcia as a disheveled FBI agent (or is he?). With a cast like this you can't go wrong, but Confidence cons itself into thinking it's original, while Burns's abundant voice-overs state the obvious and plot twists unfold with minimal surprise. It hardly matters; Confidence may be derivative, but it's still recommendable. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A talky, fun grifter picture that may test your tolerance for Ed Burns, who stars, narrates, and even gets the girl. Surprisingly, Burns didn't direct; that honor went to James Foley ("Glengarry Glen Ross"), who signed up Dustin Hoffman to play a Mob boss with an aesthetic side. (He likes to give his strippers acting tips.) Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz, and Andy Garcia all provide able support, and the puzzle is a good one. Foley lets the sting play out without overloading it with hardboiled philosophy, and Burns is a convincing Mr. Cool. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A Truly Entertaining Film
Underseen in theaters due to an underwhelming marketing campaign and the limited draw of Edward Burns, this film is loads of fun and very unpredictable. Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia are both the best they've been in years and the last twist blew me away. If you are a fan of The Sting, you'll love this film.

Conning itself.
Flat headed heist movie that lacks the goods to con itself. Ed Burns does have the chops to pull off his character well, but he comes up short next to his fellow actors, and a very bad script. Dustin Hoffman is great for the very small time that he is in it. And Rachel Weisz outdoes them both with a great performance that the screenplay does not even try to capitalize. Doug Jung's script is really not a script at all but a series of blatantly rip off material from better con films, and a poorly done rip off at that. The DVD itself is better than the movie, and that's because you can see how bad the screenwriter had dropped the ball with this film.

See it for Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz and Ed Burns's performances, but don't expect a coherent plot.

coming in under the radar
Well - excellent movie, clever plot, clever dialogues, great performances ( Dustin Hoffman (cast against type) is interestingly creepy, Rachel Weisz is pure "bait with brains" and Edward Burns (not really my favourite actor) comes over with a surprisingly great amount of suave confidence... as for the supporting cast - as good as the leads, Andy Garcia takes the cake, though ), moody soundtrack, and - just for once - in this almost "sucked-dry" genre of 'Heist' and 'Sting' movies, an unpredictable ending..... and while it skips over some of the the less interesting details of the sting's setup and planning (like some forgeries etc ), the story stays sound - especially through Burn's comments from off-screen filling in details, attitude and superstitions. It compares very well to "Oceans Eleven" but is less swinging, ironic and hip, much grittier with ugly stains showing through the gloss, and somewhat less certainty about the outcome.

As for the story - a group of conficence men pull off the wrong guy, or rather they con him out of the wrong money. Now, in debt to a local mobster (Hofmann ), they agree to trick an old enemy of said mobster out of several million bucks - and doing this with crooked cops, irritated gangsters and federal agents on their tail. Sounds simple, but like all good sting stories it has a cartload of double-dealing, backstabbing and corrupting gears busily shifting and turning. Rather surprisingly for a contemporary gangster/crime story the violence, while definitely there, is neither overwhelming nor sickeningly self-serving, the camera-work is hands on, and for once the world is at its most dangerous when it looks glossy, stylish and neat.

Of course everyone missed it on the big screen while watching the Hulk, Tomb Raider 2 and Charlies Angles : FT and cussing - go figure.
Just like the perfect con - you don't notice its excellence until it's over. Now wisen up guys and at least get the DVD. No regrets - trust me on this.