Rating: 
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: Sure, original it ain't, but CONFIDENCE is one of my favorite films of all time. After all, style isn't everything, but it sure it something, and this film is oozing with it. Rachel Weisz and Ed Burns are two of my favorite actors, and they have a great chemistry in this movie. Dustin Hoffman steals the show whenever he's in a scene, and the dialogue is fantastic and well-written. It's not an Oscar-winner, that's for sure, but CONFIDENCE is one hell of a good time and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
Rating:
Summary: coming in under the radar
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly Entertaining Film
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie!
Review: This was an awesome movie! When I went to see it in theaters, I have never heard of the movie. I didn't know what it was about, or even if it sounded good. But it was awesome! It kept my attention the whole time! I love it!
Rating: 
Summary: Simple Stuff; Overall Production Slick, Sound (But Simple)
Review: The film-makers got my attention, first and foremost, by the way they edited the plot into itself and out into a projected future. Scenes jump to events that just happened or may happen. And the narrator of the story is telling it all in flashback (but despite the technique a person has no idea how he got into the position of 'flashing back' -- a stylistic feat not too often achieved -- so it wasn't a giveaway by any means). I might have questioned the transitional techniques used -- rough, simple cuts that did not always flow from one scene past or present to another scene past or present -- but the cuts themselves I highly approved of. Perhaps -- but not definitely -- the film is very simliar to "The Usual Suspects": story as past tense (up to a point), plot more or less linear and centered around the proverbial heist, denouement rather sudden but surprising none the less. Of course "Confidence" does not hold up so well to "Suspects": Edward Norton is no Kevin Spacey in terms of acting ability. But the roles of Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz and Andy Garcia, anyway, put "Confidence" out there as one of the more fun, more adult films of the year.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotionally flat
Review: Watching CONFIDENCE was like visiting a fortune-teller just for the fun of it. While not getting emotionally involved, I paid good money just to observe and rate the quality of the performance. And that's OK. Jake Vig (Edward Burns) leads a gang of Los Angeles con artists that mistakenly burns a local crime lord, Mr. King (Dustin Hoffman), to the tune of $150,000. King retaliates by having one of the team executed. Realizing their peril, Jake prudently decides to cut a deal. Thus, King is willing to forgive and forget if Vig and his colleagues will fleece one of his rivals out of $5 million. To my mind, a film's potential success has at least four determinants: the acting, the plot, the environment (created by the cinematography, soundtrack, FX, etc.), and the degree of bonding between the audience and the characters. CONFIDENCE succeeds in all but the last. Perhaps the best incentive to see CONFIDENCE is Hoffman's portrayal of the ickiest, creepiest and most venomous character he's ever played. It may be worth a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the next Oscarfest. Burns, as well as the multitude of others in supporting roles, are adequate to advance the (admittedly clever) storyline, but none were endearing, at least to this viewer. Even the moll of the piece, Lily (Rachel Weisz), is too unrelentingly flinty to be attractive.The only character of any interest besides King is Gunther Butan (Andy Garcia), the scruffy Federal agent and Vig's ostensible nemesis, who appears to be the wild card in the evolving scam. The director made creative use of flashbacks and visual asides to keep my in-seat interest level high. I left the screening glad that I'd seen it, but am also going to purge it from short term memory immediately after typing the period that ends this review. CONFIDENCE is, ultimately, an emotionally sterile experience.
Rating:
Summary: a reasonably good confidence game movie
Review: If you like the genre it is a better than average movie, with enough twists at the end to keep most everyone guessing the real ending. The theme is how to trick the mark into not following up the theft of his money and eventually finding and killing the confidence men. To this end the movie is great. Mechanism, technic, how to do it are all better than average. Worth your time, if this is your kind of movie to begin with.
Rating: 
Summary: I fell asleep during this. Stiff and boring.
Review: OK, what did I look for in this movie??? Obviously, the performance of Dustin Hoffman, by far the most historically esteemed actor out there. When he didn't lure me in, I figured the movie as a whole wasn't going to. The rest of the actors were ameteurs compared to him, and if he wasn't going to shine, why would I even give the actors the benefit of the doubt?
This movie was not interesting enough to keep me up. The acting was bad, the script was bad. The opening scene was just about the only interesting thing about this movie. Avoid it. You know why, because I always give the benefit of the doubt. That's why this film got 2 starts instead of one or none at all! haha you no-star losers!
Rating:
Summary: Con Flicks, either ya love'em or ya hate'em
Review: If you love them, this will be right up your ally. The characters are good (Dustin Hoffman is a very different kind of gangster), but not as great as "Heist", and the stage is hip, but no where near as grand the grandaddy of all Con flicks "The Sting." I wish they would have added more detail about the con, as most would agree the devil is in the detail, see "Spanish Prisoner" for a good example. Its a fairly simple scam, of course there is always a twist, and this movie has a nice pace. If you are a female (I am not), Ed Burns makes the movie worth watching. Andy Garcia is not in the movie a lot, but he does OK. Note, I think Garcia is the worst actor in Hollywood this side of everyone whipping boy, Keanu Reeves. He had the world handed to him on a platter after Godfather III, and what has he done
Rating:
Summary: Great-looking, occasionally interesting, but too mundane.
Review: "Confidence" is movie about the mechanics of conmen, but not their mystery. It's a tutorial, and that's the hitch. What it should show, it tells. Cons are like magic: Offer the secret and the audience just waits for the shoe to drop -- and not with much anticipation. The title sequence tips the hand: it's directed with style by James Foley, but our con guide Jake Vig, played with smarts (but little charm) by Edward Burns, speaks right into the camera, inviting us inside the game. It's a nice gesture from screenwriter Doug Jung, but a basic betrayal of the genre -- if the audience isn't one of the marks, what's the point? Vig runs an LA crew (Paul Giamatti and Brian Van Holt) that scores by staging murders during phony drug deals; they rip off the accountant of a local crime boss, The King (Dustin Hoffman), a hyperactive creep doubling as a strip club owner. Vig proposes a new con that cuts in The King for the money he's owed, plus a chunk. A smoky vamp (Rachel Weisz) is brought onboard as bait. The job is explained once, then again, then executed just about as it was explained. The con itself, involving a bank executive (Robert Forster) and a phony startup company, is pretty mundane, Jung has an idea to backload the suspense -- will the con work? -- but it's a movie, and Edward Burns is the lead, and since when does Edward Burns not get a good cut from the deck? He even survived in "Saving Private Ryan." Will it work? Is there change in the washing machine? The performances are hit and miss. Hoffman is very good. Maybe too good -- by The King's second appearance, repulsion bursts from the screen. Burns plays his Vig closer to the real thing, but somehow that's less filling -- Vig seems to be working a proof, not a score. Burns was once a can't-miss prospect for actor-director stardom; anymore, he's cast for his looks more than his talent. Andy Garcia is also onboard in a cameo as a sleazy federal agent tailing Vig, doing some ludicrous parody of Al Pacino's performance in "Heat." He's never been worse. Foley, the director, is acquitted --"Confidence" looks fantastic, and some scenes play better than they have any right to, as Foley bounces the camera around to loosen up dry, talky sequences. The King's sex den is nicely conceived, as is Vig clubhouse where most of the scheming plays out. It's a fine setting for a good noir yarn. If only the movie were a yarn, instead of a how-to booklet.
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