When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Add irritating to the summary. Con movies are great when they have unexpected twists and turns and the marks who are being conned are not so dopey that you roll your eyes with exasperation. While there are many twists and turns to this story, most of them you can spot a mile away and it's impossible to fathom how anyone with the least intelligence would fall for them. Writer Doug Jung uses the f-word throughout as though audiences could really give an eff. (Just get on with the story, buddy!) Most of the characterization is so over-written as to be irritating beyond belief. Dustin Hoffman as a sleazy crime-boss gives a performance that out-rivals Bette Davis in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane for sheer hokiness and high camp. A good cast wasted in a script that is so overwritten you want to take a pair of pruning shears and chop it down to a realistic and manageable level. While Doug Jung has indeed gone on to finer things this is a flailing mess of a script that needed a firm hand to shape it into an impressive whole. (Isn't Ed Burns known for his writing ability? One has to assume he wasn't allowed to tamper with this.) Confidence is a one-time watch that requires a LOT of patience. A shame because the idea and talent is there but the execution is lacking.

If this film had been released 20 years ago, it might be seen as a startling, revealing look at the world of con artists. But it didn't come out 20 years ago, before David Mamet's House of Games and Stephen Frears' The Grifters were released; it came out in 2003, after con artists have become almost passé. It has been made with a lot of competent talent, but that cannot make up for a lazy script.Role call: Dustin Hoffman, Ed Burns, Andy Garcia, Rachel Weisz, Paul Giamatti, Donal Logue, Luis Guzman, and even Tommy "Tiny" Lister, who played the President in The Fifth Element. Burns leads a team of con artists who inadvertently rip off one of Hoffman's friends. Since Hoffman plays a crime lord here (with ADHD!), he has one of the team members killed. Burns doesn't give the money back - instead, he offers to work another con for Hoffman to pay back what he took. Nice enough setup… Performances all around are satisfactory. There's one scene where Hoffman has forgotten to take his ADHD pills that is, I'm certain, the reason he took the role. Lots of groping of women and slapping of faces. The movie is directed with energy and style by James Foley (director of Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross) and has an interesting green and purple lighting scheme.Unfortunately, it all comes down to the storytelling, and flashy as the camera moves may be, the script doesn't cut the mustard. It's full of interesting characters, but fails to be full of interesting scenes. The story of the con is about as predictable as they get. Many twists and several turns lie within the plot, fulfilling the need of the genre, but those twists and turns never create any real drama. Some movies are about more than their stories. This movie is about ONLY its story. Every word spoken is spoken to advance the plot, not to see the characters in any sort of three dimensional way or to create something out of their situation that we average schmoes can relate to. An annoying flashback/flash forward structure exists only to capture an audience's attention in those first precious moments of a film. It has no real purpose in the grand scheme - the movie is not more entertaining because of it, so it should have been abandoned. This is a sufficient con/caper movie, by which I mean it wraps up its story in a mostly sensible way with the proper amount of (false) tension. But that to me hardly seems sufficient.http://www.movieswithmark.com

Confidence is like a movie version of BBC's Hustle with an all-star cast. Edward Burns leads an all-star cast that includes Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, Oscar winner Rachel Weisz, Oscar nominated Paul Giamatti, and Oscar nominated Andy Garcia combined with a supporting cast that includes Donal Logue, Louis Guzman, Frankie G, Tiny Lister, Morris Chestnut, and Louis Lombardi. If the cast doesn't appeal to you yet, it will by the end of the movie.Ed Burns plays hustler Jake Vig who leads a small team of men that hustle different marks. Always thinking several moves ahead, Vig has thus far been successful in making his money and never being caught. However when he hustles his newest mark what he didn't know was the man was only a collection guy for Dustin Hoffman's Winston King. The money was King's and when one of Jake's men boasts about the job they just pulled, Jake suddenly finds himself with one P.O.'d 'mob-like' boss.Jake, one man down and with one of King's men attached, takes his crew, adds sexy con Lily (Rachel Weisz) and is forced to pull off a scam for King. The bad part is it is a UNTOUCHABLE (a great performance by Robert Forster for the three seconds he's on screen). The great part is, if they pull it off, each member of the team will get six figures.HOWEVER, right from the first scene we all realize that everything has already gone to hell. What comes next is the tale of how Burns, Weisz, Giamatti, and the rest of the crew try to pull of the scam, with special agent Andy Garcia right on their tale, teamed up with two crooked LA cops (Guzman, Logue) who had been working with Jake but find themselves in a bad spot with the fed riding with them.Fans of the movie are best to check out BBC's Hustle series, which is an hour long show with a new con each week. CONFIDENCE is a great flick with a great cast and does it a bit better then Hustle. It's the best con movie in years and if you are disappointed by flicks like Ocean's Twelve, you best rent this straight away.

Not too simple, not too intelligent. Just great. I mean... AWESOME MOVIE! I never heard of a story, more interesting, more fun and more surprisingly well done as this one... I read another comment on the movie, with a comparison of Rachel Weisz and Julia Roberts. Well, I don't know that, but let's take a closer look. If Rachel Weisz can be compared with Julia Roberts, let's pretend... that George Clooney is Edward Burns and Andy Garcia is Dustin Hoffman... Now, I don't want to abuse any of the actors in Ocean's Eleven is worthless, because I really admire these people and I don't forget the fact, that Andy Garcia plays an important good role in "Confidence" too, but compared to "Ocean's Eleven", "Confidence"... ROCKS HARD!!! Let's just say that. Some critics will try to make an important note "Wait a minute, what about the flaws in the movie?" What about them? Every movie's got plenty. And this movie has a few. Nothing is perfect. If you ask me, I would give this film a 7.5! It's not shallow, but not deep too. The perfect way to relax... That's from me, I don't give a **** (sorry for the rude expression) what people think about this opinion, the real thing I care about is that this is my opinion and I support it 100%... This movie is the most perfectly planned and interesting movie for me... Coulnd't know about the others and couldn't change their mind, but I suppose they probably think as well...