Directed by Rian Johnson

Superficially this film is a long way from Brick, Johnson's stylish and intriguing debut feature that wowed them at Sundance in 2006, set in a high school where all manner of noir-ish skullduggery was afoot. Here the settings are more exotically flavoured, set mostly in European locations and served with a twist of dark-edged Balkan-style music from Nathan Johnson (cousin of Rian). But underneath this is just another, rather more high falutin' attempt at bamboozling the audience with the same kind of knowing, sharp cleverness.

The pre-credits sequence which sets out the brothers' childhood situation and loving but tricky relationship is a bit winsome, hoppity-skipping along the very edge of twee. As adults, Mark Ruffalo, whose face at rest expresses a sly optimistic charm, is the elder brother, Stephen; Adrien Brody, visage of dark melancholy, the younger, known only as Bloom. The brothers, seeing themselves as rootless outsiders (they appear always in Hassidic Jewish garb as boys, but nothing is ever made of this) grow up to make a tidy living by conning large amounts of money from people in the successful world they feel left out of, Stephen conceiving clever scams and Bloom with his woebegone looks gaining their confidence. But Bloom is growing increasingly frustrated with this way of life, feeling he has no real existence outside his scam persona, so Stephen suggests a grandiose final con that will make them rich enough to retire. It, involves getting millions out of eccentric, lonely heiress Penelope (Rachel Weiss).Wait a minute - Bloom...Stephen... characters in Ulysses; Penelope, wife of the original Ulysses... Is this some kind of grand homage to James Joyce, or Homer, or ... not sure, but it's got to be intended, yet another element adding to the gloop in the kooky melting pot.

I'd really like to like this film a lot more, but despite its constant inventiveness and clever twists, it just didn't engage me at all. I didn't find myself laughing much, or feeling curious about what was to happen next, or caring about the characters, gamely though the actors go through the convoluted motions. Most egregious of all is poor Rinko Kikuchi as Bang Bang, Stephen's companion, a weird would be amusing presence who takes little part in the proceedings other than standing on the sidelines behaving in a zany fashion, like blowing up Barbie Dolls. It has its moments, but all in all it's a bit too conscious of its own cleverness. ‘The best con is the one in which everyone gets what they wanted' says Stephen merrily, but with so many cons upon cons upon cons you finish up rather ready for it all to end.