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IMDbPro

The Brothers Bloom

  • 20082008
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 54m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
51K
YOUR RATING
Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Rinko Kikuchi, and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
A pair of brothers and veteran conmen (Brody and Ruffalo) target an enigmatic wealthy woman (Weisz) as their potential last job, fully unaware of the twists in the road ahead of them.
Play trailer2:16
6 Videos
99+ Photos
ActionAdventureComedy
The Brothers Bloom are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they've decided to take on one last job - showing a beautiful an... Read allThe Brothers Bloom are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they've decided to take on one last job - showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around ... Read allThe Brothers Bloom are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they've decided to take on one last job - showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around the world.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
51K
YOUR RATING
    • Rian Johnson
    • Rian Johnson
  • Stars
    • Rachel Weisz
    • Adrien Brody
    • Mark Ruffalo
    • Rian Johnson
    • Rian Johnson
  • Stars
    • Rachel Weisz
    • Adrien Brody
    • Mark Ruffalo
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 136User reviews
    • 179Critic reviews
    • 55Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos6

    The Brothers Bloom -- Trailer #2
    Trailer 2:16
    Watch The Brothers Bloom -- Trailer #2
    The Brothers Bloom
    Trailer 2:21
    Watch The Brothers Bloom
    A Guide to the Films of Rian Johnson
    Clip 1:39
    Watch A Guide to the Films of Rian Johnson
    The Brothers Bloom -- "The Mark"
    Clip 1:59
    Watch The Brothers Bloom -- "The Mark"
    The Brothers Bloom -- "Opening Sequence"
    Clip 6:46
    Watch The Brothers Bloom -- "Opening Sequence"
    The Brothers Bloom -- "Card Trick"
    Clip 2:21
    Watch The Brothers Bloom -- "Card Trick"

    Photos105

    Rinko Kikuchi in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Rachel Weisz in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Rachel Weisz and Adrien Brody in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Robbie Coltrane, Rinko Kikuchi, and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Rinko Kikuchi and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Adrien Brody in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Adrien Brody in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Rachel Weisz in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Rinko Kikuchi, and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Adrien Brody, Rinko Kikuchi, and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom (2008)
    Rinko Kikuchi in The Brothers Bloom (2008)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Rachel Weisz
    Rachel Weisz
    • Penelope
    Adrien Brody
    Adrien Brody
    • Bloom
    Mark Ruffalo
    Mark Ruffalo
    • Stephen
    Rinko Kikuchi
    Rinko Kikuchi
    • Bang Bang
    Robbie Coltrane
    Robbie Coltrane
    • Curator
    Maximilian Schell
    Maximilian Schell
    • Diamond Dog
    Ricky Jay
    Ricky Jay
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    Zachary Gordon
    Zachary Gordon
    • Young Bloom
    Max Records
    Max Records
    • Young Stephen
    Andy Nyman
    Andy Nyman
    • Charleston
    Noah Segan
    Noah Segan
    • The Duke
    Nora Zehetner
    Nora Zehetner
    • Rose
    Ram Bergman
    Ram Bergman
    • Self
    Craig Johnson
    • Apple Cart Vendor
    Dubravko Jovanovic
    • Albino
    Esme Tyler
    • Young Girl
    Jovan Vitas
    • Young Boy
    Ana Sofrenovic
    • Charleston's Wife
      • Rian Johnson
      • Rian Johnson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The card trick performed by Rachel Weisz took her a month to learn, practicing every day. The shot itself took eleven takes.
    • Goofs
      When Stephen rings the doorbell outside Max's apartment in Prague, Max blasts his front door with a shotgun; the circle of wood in the door that will be blasted out is visible before the gunshot.
    • Quotes

      Penelope Stamp: I think you're constipated, in your fucking soul... I think you might have a really big load of grumpy petrified poop up your soul's ass.

    • Crazy credits
      The 'thank you' section starts: "We don't have the room to thank everyone who helped us make this movie."
    • Connections
      Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Star Trek/Rudo y Cursi/Next Day Air (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      (I Know) I'm Losing You
      Written by Eddie Holland (as Edward Holland, Jr.), Norman Whitfield (as Norman J. Whitfield) and Cornelius Grant

      Performed by Faces

      Released by arrangement with BBC Music

      By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

    User reviews136

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    oddly enough, or maybe not, character-driven more than by plot - which works
    The Brothers Bloom starts off with a bang of cinematic energy. We're introduced, by a kind of whimsical narrator not unlike one might have remembered from Pushing Daisies, to the brothers, Stephen and Bloom, as children in a town where everything is one-note: one group of kids, one store, one this or that. Stephen, the more inventive one of the duo (or rather, the one that will whip up a plan with a quirk or two not unlike Owen Wilson in Bottle Rocket), devises the first con to be that of intriguing the hell out of a group of kids- first part introducing Bloom to a girl, which he likes right away- and then leading to a cave that tricks them all into believing something is there which, of course, is not.

    This entire section, about five to ten minutes, is a brilliant short film, self-contained within itself and donning the kind of energy that, again, can be comparable to Wes Anderson. This is not to knock Rian Johnson as an original talent. He is. But for anyone that's seen any of Anderson's films, specifically Bottle Rocket and Rushmore and Life Aquatic, this is that kind of speedy intro that includes very precise pans and movements with the camera and facial expressions that mark this as something, well, "different". This also appears to be how the rest of the story will pan out, this distinctive, acute and stylish endeavor of film-making, as the brothers, grown up (Adrien Brody as Bloom, Mark Ruffalo as Stephen) are continuing with their cons until Bloom wants out, leading up to the typical "one-last-con" deal where-in they'll con a reclusive New Jersey heiress Penelope (Rachel Weisz) who has way too much time on her hands as well as money for the taking.

    Then there's the complications, of romance between Bloom and Penelope, and the complication that she's let in on Stephen and Bloom being "artifact smugglers", then the appearance of a certain nefarious figure known as "Diamond Dog", and meanwhile their Silent Bob figure, Bang Bang (Rino Kikuchi), tags along as someone who we only find out late in the game of the story that she has a cell phone (?) and can make origami at just the right moment.

    All of this makes The Brothers Bloom sound quite plot driven, not to mention the ups and downs and twists and turns of the cons that happen, or don't, between the brothers, Penelope, the revelations, etc. Depending on the viewer, and how much they'll want to believe or, frankly, how many movies they've seen of this type (one could see this as being a slick parody of a film like 2003's Confidence, also co-starring Rachel Weisz if memory serves), it's like following magicians doing work, not believing a thing or believing everything. Or some of it, perhaps. It's almost like the Prestige if it didn't actually want the audience to believe in magic. More that Johnson wants the audience to make the distinction between characters who draw their own reality and can't seem to break out into their own "unwritten" roles.

    And yet, for all the story's twists and turns, its strengths are in the characters. It's actually, not too unlike Anderson (again, sorry), more European influenced in that regard as it takes us along on its journey because of the characters, not the other way around. This helps since the characters all work with their respective players, more or less. More because of Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz, who play off each other wonderfully as an at-first awkward couple who get further romantically involved (there's a wonderful, spot-on charming scene where we see them kiss, and we understand clearly Penelope is having her first French-style) and connect closest with how Johnson casts them. Less with Ruffalo, who grew on me as the film went on, mainly towards the end (his last scene, without spoiling much, is a keeper for his extended reel), since he's meant to be conniving and devilish but doesn't really fit in even as he's good at delivering the lines and countering Brody and Weisz.

    The other way it's also European is that it's meant to be, and is, a director's tour-de-force. As the sophomore effort of Rian Johnson, after his first very impressive debut Brick (which, I should note, also tooled playfully with conventions of a genre as he attempts here), he's aiming quite high. The only problem that I encountered with it was that, perhaps by some proxy of the script, it takes a lot to really get emotionally wound up with these people.

    The style of his camera, the tricks of his editing, are like cons in and of themselves, but there's (apologies for this over-used word) quirks to the proceedings that deflate some scenes that would work much better in straightforward terms (I may have been the only one rolling my eyes at the "knickname" for Bang Bang being Yuengling with the line "Yuengling, like the beer?"). Sometimes this excess-of-style works well, like when we flash through all of the "hobbies" Penelope does in her countless spare time at her mansion. Other times, sad to say, it just calls attention to itself without being cool-hip ala Ocean's Eleven or warm-hearted ala (one more time) an Anderson picture.

    And yet, for the gripes I might have had, it's impossible for me to ignore what Johnson has shown here and in Brick. He delivers characters we want to watch and situations that unfold with diverting, entertaining results, even as one might never fully believe what will happen next. Or maybe we do. He's a director that isn't going away, and to me this is a good thing. That's no con. 7.5/10
    helpful•40
    25
    • Quinoa1984
    • May 22, 2009

    FAQ13

    • Is "The Brothers Bloom" based on a book?
    • Are the Bloom brothers really brothers?
    • Where was the movie filmed?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 19, 2009 (United States)
      • United States
      • Official site (France)
      • English
      • French
      • Czech
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Peles Castle, Sinaia, Prahova, Romania
    • Production companies
      • Endgame Entertainment
      • Ram Bergman Productions
      • The Weinstein Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 54 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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