Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This is certainly a good movie ... but nominated for 4 Oscars and quite a number of other wins and awards and stuff? really? surely not the only not-so-Oscar-worthy movie i've ever seen that has been nominated for so many of such a highly praised prize ... but well ... dunno ... maybe 1990 was a special year for unlikely nominations after all ...

The Grifters is a clever and entertaining film with a dark edge. The three protagonists are con-artists who work on different types of con. Their stories eventually intertwine leading to a shocking confrontation.Angelica Huston works for the mob, rigging the odds on horse racing. John Cusack pulls small time cons in bars using sleight of hand. Annette Bening is Cusack's girlfriend and is working her way back up to a con of her own.The film is shot in an authentic 1940's film noir style and the story is a classic piece of thriller writing. Overall I give The Grifters an 8 out of 10. I love this film and I would highly recommend it to lovers of crime movies.

THE GRIFTERS is quite simply brilliant. The basic premise is straightforward: small-time conperson Roy (John Cusack) tries to prosper while trying to sustain his relationships with mother Lily (Anjelica Huston) and girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening). However the love-triangle gets complicated when Lily and Myra try to rival one another for Roy's affections, leading to death and destruction. But what makes this film so brilliant is its precise delineation of the conperson's life: all three protagonists are engaged in the same trade. Sometimes they are outstandingly successful; for the most part, however, they lead hand-to- mouth existences, either wondering about where their next buck will come from, or working for sadistic gangland bosses such as Bobo Justus (Pat Hingle). Director Stephen Frears vividly captures the seedy ambiance in which the three protagonists operate - dilapidated motels, racetracks, darkly lit rooms and the inevitable automobiles. One of the film's main subplots concentrates on the characters' search for personal stability: Lily tries to be a mother to Roy, while Myra acts as a surrogate mother. This produces one of the film's most fascinating plot-twists. Add to the mix the wonderful cinematography in a series of iconic locations, both urban and rural(by Oliver Stapleton), and you have an almost perfect piece.

Man, talk about a slow-burn. Going into The Grifters I was expecting a slick and quick-paced con thriller, but what I got was something much darker and much more absorbing. Director Stephen Frears, working off a script by Donald Westlake (adapted from the Jim Thompson novel) lets these characters get established before they start to bring us into the tangled web they are all weaving.Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a con man pulling small jobs every day to slowly build up his savings, while his girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening) is doing anything she can to get by and his mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston) is working on a long play of her own. The tagline of "Who's conning who?" always makes me roll my eyes, but it's actually an accurate portrayal here, as these three play each other back and forth, while the film itself is pulling the veil over the audience.The Grifters is a brooding noir that throws back a lot to the '40s and it's Hitchcock roots, including some direct homages that feel appropriate for the story rather than cheap rip-offs. The film delves into some potentially melodramatic moments at times, but Frears is able to keep things in tune with it's seething roots as opposed to letting things get too theatrical.All three actors are working at top form here; Cusack was just starting to break out and this role should really be considered more among the best of his career, Huston steals the show in every scene and Bening (someone I've always despised) is seductive and very compelling. I thought that Bening was phoning it in a bit at first, but as more is revealed about the character you realize that she's conning herself as much as she is everyone else. Frears crafts this one with a great tone that the actors play into very well, with some powerful sexual undertones and a dynamite finale.