Confidence

Director: James Foley
Screenwriters: Doug Jung

Institute History

  • 2003 Sundance Film Festival

Description

In James Foley's Confidence, twists and turns, stylish camerawork, and a fantastic ensemble cast keep you guessing, never sure of who's doing what to whom, where, or when?

The action kicks in immediately. We tumble headfirst into an elaborate con job, and not until afterward, jaw dropped, money gone, do we begin to untangle the who's who of this ragtag bunch of grifters. The slick and charming Jake Vig (Ed Burns) is obviously the leader. His band of men may not look like much, but they have the smooth moves to dupe a "mob accountant" out of a tidy sum of cash. When the hypereccentric Boss (Dustin Hoffman) gets wind of the heist, they are summoned to his inner sanctum to make a deal for payback.

Foley demonstrates the proper tack to take to pump new life into a genre—gather a group of talented actors and allow them do what they do best. A wonderfully clever script by Doug Jung sports crisp dialogue that adds sass to the intrigue. But it is to Foley's credit that the pace in Confidence is fast and the plot two steps ahead, always out of reach of the predictable.

— John Cooper

Screening Details

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