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Brothers Bloom, The
EMAILPRINTSummit Entertainment

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 37 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance
Written by: Rian Johnson
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 15, 2009
DVD: January 12, 2010
Running Time: 109 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language
Starring Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, and Robbie Coltrane
For as long as they can remember, the Brothers Bloom have had only each other to depend on. From their childhood in a long series of gloomy foster homes to their highflying lives as international con artists, Stephen and Bloom have shared everything. Stephen brilliantly concocts intricate stories that the brothers live out, but he's still searching for the perfect con, the one where "everyone gets what they want." Meanwhile, Bloom yearns for "an unwritten life"—a real adventure, one not dreamed up by his old brother. Eager to retire, Bloom agrees to take part in one last grand scam. He insinuates himself into the life of Penelope, a bored, single New Jersey heiress. When a genuine romance begins to blossom between them, he is reluctant to exploit her naivete, but Penelope has already taken the bait. But as Stephen's elaborate web of deceit pulls tighter, Bloom begins to wonder if his brother has devised the most dangerous con of his life. (Summit Entertainment)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
The Brothers Bloom has it all: charming romance, jaunty adventure story, witty dialogue, gorgeous cinematography and superb performances.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Brothers Bloom with satisfy those with a yearning for lighthearted heist tales, comedies, and offbeat romances.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
The jaunty, energetic first 10 minutes of The Brothers Bloom are easily the best first 10 minutes of any film I've seen this year. And while the succeeding hour and 43 minutes doesn't hold up to the movie's opening scenes, the whole endeavor is still an awfully good time.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
This time we expect to be played, but the twist is that we're also touched -- which, the film implies, is the cinema's own form of deception.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
Johnson has infused The Brothers Bloom with so much heart and beauty that one can and should easily overlook its discomfiting moments. The truth is, the film's even more profound and touching upon second viewing.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Stina Chyn
A little bit of screwball comedy and a lot of film noir, add a dash of suspense-drama, and half a dozen card tricks too, then you have the recipe for making The Brothers Bloom.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
The Brothers Bloom is all about exploding forms, tropes and archetypes. But it's also a charmer, a witty sandbagging of one's resistance to fairy tale and a movie afflicted with a kind of comic Tourette's syndrome.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Never achieves the satisfaction of a real crackerjack con movie.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Johnson sets viewers up for greatness, but ultimately offers much milder pleasures. The film isn’t an outright con, but it’s easy to feel a little misled by the end.
Read Full Review >Premiere Jordan Burchette
Weisz infuses comic complexity into the ensemble, which is at times genuinely funny.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This movie is lively at times, it's lovely to look at, and the actors are persuasive in very difficult material. But around and around it goes, and where it stops, nobody by that point much cares.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Even after the plot has left you behind, you still watch The Brothers Bloom with a smile, because the actors are so engaging.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The Brothers Bloom is much more interested in showing off its own smarts, such as they are, than in challenging the audience's.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The old carnival phrase "Close, but no cigar" comes to mind when watching The Brothers Bloom , a globetrotting heist film that starts off terrifically and then progressively deflates.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Amy Binacolli
Emotionally, The Brothers Bloom hasn't a trace of detachment or cynicism. Even if you don't quite comprehend the ending (there seem to be 12 of them), you'll still feel the wallop of its consequences.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
High-style goofballing and globetrotting can get you pretty far, but maybe not as far as Johnson wants us to go.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Breezily enjoyable for about 10 minutes, until you realize the entire movie is going to be pitched at the same exuberantly manic pace. It's like being trapped in an elevator with a performing poodle that doesn't know when to quit.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Rian Johnson's film is a scam wrapped in a sham.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Like Anderson, Johnson has a fine eye for color, great taste in music, and a knack for painterly compositions, but the world he creates is airless and ultimately empty.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
The movie fails to add up to the sum of its laborious parts. There's no emotional investment in any of the characters, and you can see the writer-director's windup con coming a mile away.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
As much as you admire the stagecraft and the technical skills on display, when all is said and done, that's all it is: a fancy, not-quite-two-hour stunt.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
It often seems precious and overconceived, its accumulating crosses and double-crosses as devoid of consequence as a child's backyard game.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
A couple of rather Dickensian supporting roles by Robbie Coltrane and Maximilian Schell fall embarrassingly flat as they are more creations of costumes and makeup than actual flesh-and-blood. But then the same can be said for the entire movie.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Robert Abele
The leads aren't only miscast -- Brody over-mopes and the usually wonderful Ruffalo seems out of sorts as a rascally schemer -- but interest in the con plot fades as the director's bag of tricks empties further.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Staff (Not credited)
An overstuffed failure that mistakes sleight storytelling for dazzling entertainment.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ryan G gave it a10:
The movie was great and I love the cinematography and costume design not to mention how they captured the elegance and beauty of each setting.
connie l gave it a10:
The movie displayed elegant art and I loved it!!!
Christine c gave it an8:
Oone of the better movies i have recently seen, adrian brody is awesome. Quirky and entertaining.
Jay H gave it a5:
It’s certainly offbeat, in a good sort of way, but in spite of a sincere effort, the film doesn’t quite work. The cast tries. The style in which the film was made gets tiresome pretty quickly, and the manic pace begins to bore.
Alexandria D gave it a9:
Although the ending with the Russians threw me for a bit of a loop, both times I viewed it, my overall feeling for this film is LOVE! I laughed, to the dismay of other movie goers throughout, was captivated by the 4 main actors, and enchanted by the story. Sure one must suspend disbelief for the poor Bloom who so wishes for love but has such difficulty committing. I know...it is a drag when one realizes that movies reflect life! Ha!
Caitlyn M gave it a10:
A wonderful, unpredictable ride. Some confusing moments, but overall a blast. Great characters, great acting, great storytelling. It kept me enthralled from start to finish, and the end was very satisfying.
J F gave it a10:
This was an entertaining and fun movie, it should have been treated with more respect, the actors earned it. Shame on Summit.
