The Brothers Bloom - My Review

Phillip and I have this recurring thing happen to us. We’ll get a movie from Netflix, never be in the mood for it, and let it sit for literally months, then finally watch it and realize it’s a FANTASTIC movie! We then berate ourselves for letting it sit so long unwatched. We always feel guilty thinking about all the people we may have deprived from seeing it because we had it so long. As if Netflix can’t possibly have multiple copies, right?

Some of the films we did this with were Zodiac, In Bruges, and then most recently The Brothers Bloom. The reason this one sat so long is that Phillip doesn’t like con artist movies. I finally convinced him to give it a try when we were too lazy to go out to the movies on Thanksgiving Day and he was sick of football and I reminded him that it was directed by Rian Johnson who directed Brick which we loved.

The Brothers Bloom is not a perfect movie, the plot gets a little convoluted with its twists and turns, and I had some concerns with the motives of the characters. Sometimes what the characters did the hard way to further the plot seemed ridiculous when it could have been done so easily and everyone would have been happy. But those are little squabbles that would have deprived us of any movie whatsoever so I can overlook them because everything else about the film was so wonderful! The cast was superb, every one of them charming, endearing, and with a genuine lived in feel to the performances. Rian Johnson really likes that retro 40s thing and even though this film was obviously set in present day – from the clothing to the sets to the locations to the dialogue – it felt like the past. When the movie was over I felt really happy and immediately wanted to watch it again. I love when a movie leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

One more thing which added to my pleasure. I follow Rian Johnson on twitter (@Rcjohnso) and after watching the film I sent him this message: "Just watched The Brothers Bloom! It was truly delightful. Thank you so much for making it!" And guess what? He responded with, "Thanks Kerry, glad you dug it!" His unexpected reply just helped to further my warm and fuzzy feeling about his movie. I can’t wait for him to make more.