MovieChat Forums > Confidence (2003) Discussion > Okay set up but too many problems (spoil...

Okay set up but too many problems (spoilers)

posted 20 years ago by gately1996
7 replies | jump to latest

It LOOKS like it should work – great cast, decent con idea, stylish wardrobe and direction. I wanted to buy into the movie. Really. The vibe of the “crew” is right on. The revenge on the King for killing the fat guy makes sense. The little guy taking down the big guy makes sense. I can almost – almost! – even buy the fact that the tight-knit team accepts Lily just because Jake tells them to.

But the whole thing just gets too silly. The entire corporate loan BS is cringeworthy. I don’t care how greedy the loan officer is meant to be – there are checks and balances and he’s going to do at least a little due diligence on this biotech company or whatever it is. Letter of intent! Letter of intent! We have a letter of intent! Doesn’t mean dog poop. But let’s assume that this plot device is accepted just like in Star Trek when they come up with some gobbledygook to explain time travel or alternate universes or whatever. Even then, there is just too much to accept.

1. Why would the King go to the airport? It makes no sense! He would just send his henchman (or probably henchmen). He would never go.

2. The Morgan Price thing – If Price believes Lily, he’s going to have some hard, pipe-hitting people go to work on Jake with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch until he spills where the money is. They sure as hell aren’t going to care about the whole story that Jake tells (again, necessary plot device for the entire movie, but still). And then, even if the Travis character buys the fact that Lily actually shoots Jake, he would certainly make sure that Jake is dead. And probably end up killing or kidnapping Lily.

3. And don’t get me started on the superstitions! Especially since nothing came of it! And who was the schmo with the bag of heroin in the first place?. Or Burns monotone yet whiny delivery.

Not for nothing, but I did like Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz and actually Andy Garcia. (Even though I knew about Andy Garcia, I kept second-guessing myself until the movie told me to know.) And the con on Sargent Gatraer was well done.

Thoughts?

[–] rudgeno1 20 years ago

I thought it was entertaining which is all I expected. And it was alot better than Ocean's Eleven (which isn't hard) but the latter is rated very highly so in theory, Confidence should be rated highly.

[–] Movie_Tech 20 years ago

I disagree, Ocean's Eleven was a much better film. Better plot, better heist, they spelled out the whole con instead of letting the whole audience assume it went to plan... and most of all, it was fun, just like the original Sting.

[–] rudgeno1 20 years ago

Sting...fun...eh? Sting was many things but fun was certainly not one of them. Adjectives that could be thrown at it are boring and aimless.

[–] Movie_Tech 20 years ago

We certainly do disagree on this topic. I found Confidence somewhat boring, so much so that I was given the DVD to watch not knowing I had seen it before. I even consulted IMDb -- which got got me to this thread -- to verify that the film really could have been that forgetable.

[–] rudgeno1 20 years ago

Did you really find Confidence that bad? Well, fair enough, everyone to their own. Perhaps I was just won over by the lack of additional features on the DVD of the film I got, which I must say, is really disappointing. I don't mind there being a lack of features if the cost goes down but this was a real rip-off.

[–] messenjah29 20 years ago

I found Confidence, Ocean's Eleven, and The Sting all to be quite entertaining.

[–] beethoven76 20 years ago

I thought it was entertaining, but expected it to be more "lighthearted" like Oceans 11. I ended up watching it a couple times to try and figure out the some things like the superstitions etc... At least now I know why he didn't like red heads.