I really love con films and hadn’t seen one in a bit and this plays like THE STING if it was a noir. It also had a very SHALLOW GRAVE type of vibe, but maybe that is because of the suitcase full of money. In fact, the film helped remind me how much I love these types of movies. The main reason for this is that Joe Mantegna really seduces you into the world. He really is the best part of it, although I couldn’t stop seeing “Fat Tony” from THE SIMPSONS every time he spoke. I also never realized how similar he is to Kevin Corrigan. In fact Joe Mantegna is what you get when you cross Kevin Corrigan and Chaz Palminteri . Ricky Jay is really great here. I’m so happy he got into acting, and I never new this was his first one. He is dearly missed. William H. Macy is also so young here. I haven’t seen him in a young role in awhile. I also think Mike Nussbaum has a great voice and reminded me of a Maurice LaMarche character. The biggest problem with the film is that because we’ve seen con movies, we know that everyone is screwing her over from moment one. Still I sat on the edge of my seat waiting to see if I was right in my assumption there or if Mamet would subvert the genre. Still, the ending was really great.
