Posted on 05/12/2003 5:23:57 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
A bagman for a bigshot mobster is conned out of his money by con men. In revenge, the bigshot mobster has one of the con men killed. Later the mobster works with the one of the con men in a scheme to illicitly earn some big bucks but the con men pull a switcheroo on the mobster. One element of the switcheroo involves a federal agent apparently trying to bust the leading con man, thereby fouling the scheme of conning the mobster.
However, it turns out that the federal agent is really working for the con men. At the end of the movie, the leader of the con men is shot dead by another person involved in the con scheme. But not to worry, it's all a fake. The con man only pretended to get shot so that the mobster would believe he was really dead as the audience realized they too had been conned into believing he was deceased.
If you guessed that this was the plot of The Sting, you would be right. And if you guessed that this was the plot of Confidence, you would also be right. Yes, the sad fact is that Confidence is nothing but a blatant ripoff of The Sting.
It didn't take long to start noticing the similarities of Confidence to The Sting. Early on in this sad excuse for a movie, one of the con men is supposedly killed but it turns out he was just faking it . . . just like in The Sting.
Before long, the similarities between Confidence and The Sting begin piling up so high that you would have to be a complete idiot not to notice the almost identical plot lines. The reason why I didn't leave this movie by the time it was half over was the fact that, since they already pulled off the con man getting shot scam, I figured there must be a different twist at the end of the move. Guess what? They REPEATED the same damn shooting scam at the end of Confidence. As soon as the lead con man, Jake Vig (Edward Burns), was shot by the woman who supposedly went turncoat on him, we know FOR SURE he's just faking it. And, yup, it turns out it was a fake death. A plot twist that worked beautifully in The Sting when the audience was stung along with the mobster, flopped completely in Confidence because we could see it coming from a mile away.
So for anybody thinking of seeing Confidence, I advise you to save your money and rent The Sting instead. Not only does The Sting have an identical plot line, it also has interesting 1930s period costumes and really kewl ragtime theme music. The music of Confidence is completely forgettable plus the most exotic scene we see is the exterior of a Central American bank in stark contrast to the colorful bookie joint of The Sting.
It is not enough for the writer of Confidence, Doug Jung, to merely be sued for plagiarism by the producers of The Sting. His ripoff was so blatant and unoriginal that a judge should sentence him to publicly wearing a sign around his neck declaring "PLAGIARIZER" while running naked through the streets of Hollywood screaming: "I RIPPED OFF THE STING! I RIPPED OFF The Sting!" Following this phase of the punishment and a thorough flogging, Doug Jung should be appointed to the position of speechwriter for Senator Joseph Biden.
Dustin Hoffman was perhaps the only bright spot in this disaster of a flick due to his role as an incredibly creepy mobster called The King. Too bad that Hoffman's interesting character was completely wasted in this horrible ripoff movie. Another wasted talent in Confidence was Paul Giamatti as one of the con men. This was a pity since Giamatti did an incredible job in the role of Pig Vomit in Howard Stern's autobiographical movie, Private Parts.
The scenes with Giamatti as Pig Vomit, the station manager of WNBC, battling Howard Stern were perhaps the funniest in the history of cinema. Who can forget the hilarious scene in Private Parts as he was using the urinal in the WNBC bathroom when suddenly, over the speaker system, he heard Howard on the air talking to Mrs. Pig Vomit about Pig Vomit's sexual problems. I was convulsed with laughter watching Pig Vomit urgently zip up his pants while running full speed down the hallway towards Howard's studio screaming in full panic mode.
Too bad the entire Private Parts movie didn't follow the Howard vs The Suits theme as the second half of the movie did. For some strange reason, director Betty Thomas felt the need to "soften" Howard Stern's image by showing how supportive his wife was to him. Not only did this mess up the pace of the film (the audience wanted the WILD stuff to happen) but she also handed Howard's wife (now ex- wife) a powerful weapon in their subsequent divorce. Howard was forced to hand over MILLIONS of dollars plus his Long Island mansion to Mrs. Stern because he knew if he didn't comply immediately, she would just show the divorce court judge the Private Parts video about how important she was to Howard.
This should serve as a warning to any other celebrity planning on producing an autobiographical movie. NEVER let your wife have more than about five minutes of screen time or she could use the movie as evidence against you in any future divorce proceedings. Also NEVER let Betty Thomas direct your movie or she'll sabotage it by trying to change your image. She messed up the first half of Private Parts by trying to portray Howard as sensitive and it wasn't until the second half when Thomas finally decided to allow Howard to be Howard that the movie really took off.
As to the crappy movie that it is my displeasure to review, on my Chad Rating Scale of one to ten chads with ten chads being best, I give Confidence a vote of NO CONFIDENCE with just one lousy chad. And the only reason why The Sting ripoff gets even one chad is because Dustin Hoffman had an interesting character that was completely wasted in this waste of a film.
This is the NEW Al Gore keepin' it real with this review and keepin' my eyes on one Mrs. Heinz. She is the inadvertent laugh riot who keeps me chuckling so much at her nutty antics (such as threatening to MAIM her uptight hubby — John F. Kerry) that it almost makes me forget that lousy 537 Florida votes that kept me from achieving my lifelong dream of becoming President.
I agree. However, the ragtime score, widely praised at the time and initiating a boom in ragtime nostalgia, is jarringly out of place in a movie set in the 30's. True ragtime was much more turn-of-the-century.
It worked because the audience itself got stung by the twist at the end. There was NO surprise in Confidence. You would have to be a TOTAL IDIOT not to see the exact SAME Sting twist coming at the end. And to make matters worse, as if to prepare you for it, they also had that "twist" at the beginning of Confidence. I sure hope some sort of action could be taken against "writer" Doug Jung for his blatant ripoff. I wonder how many hours he spent watching The Sting and taking notes.
Vague reference to Louis Freeh and the con game that was the Clinton-Gore administration?
Too close to home for ya Al?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.