Hollywood hues
Confusion rules

The surprise element in The Brothers Bloom loses its edge due to too many
twists and turns, says Ervell E. Menezes

IF you think The Brothers Bloom is even remotely similar to The Brothers Karamazov, you have to rethink. It is not half as absorbing as Dostoevsky’s masterpiece. This one is about two brothers, orphans, who have come up the hard way but it is through their conmanship that they excel and go places, literally and figuratively.

Bloom (Adrien Brody) is the simpler of the two but it is Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) who eggs him on to joining him in his nefarious exploits, the latest of which is to con a beautiful East Coast heiress Penelope (Rachel Weisz), who lives in a chateau and drives fast cars. It is the last heist before pulling out of Diamond Doug’s (Maxmillian Schell) strong influence.

Bloom more than ever wants to quit this dangerous life but there is a major hitch. Bloom falls in love with Penelope and their plans seem to come to a naught. From then on, it is a guessing game thanks to a rather confusing screenplay by Rian Johnson, who also directs the film. But there are so many twists and turns in the plot that that surprise element loses its edge.

If everything but abnormality is normal it can get annoying. Suspense, too, must be used judiciously. May be the high life they live and the exotic cities they visit provide visual relief. So is their voyage on a luxury liner. But surely that is not enough to half the viewer’s attention.

Stephen gets predictable and Bloom, smitten by love, is not his real self. The rich heiress Penelope moves from pillar to post in a vain effort to look amusing but none of it works and director Rian Johnson seems all at sea (no pun intended) in this 110-minute drama which seems much, much longer.

Mark Ruffalo is his normal ebullient self till the halfway mark. Later on, he looks tired and Adrien Brody is miscast as the enigmatic lover. Rachel Weisz is the best of the lot while Maxmillian Schell is academic. Almost double his size and girth, I remember him in the 1961 court drama Judgment at Nuremberg which means he has completed five decades in Hollywood. Commendable for him but the film is clearly a no-no. A sheer waste of a talented star cast.

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