Annette Bening twists like a mink on a leash through Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel. This may be the perfect trope for the moral hysteria that coils around a mother, her son, and his girlfriend in this slender but highly pleasurable neo-noir. Small in effect and local in scope, the film is about small-fry, attractive, bloodless con artists who view the world as neatly split between ropers and suckers, grifters and squares. "Grifter's got an irresistible urge to beat a guy that's wise," an old-timer tells Roy (John Cusack). And yet the three characters here--played by Angelica Huston, Cusack, and Bening--only beat the innocent: Lilly (Huston) gigs at the track for a mobster named Bobo, putting wads of cash on long-shot horses to even out the odds. Roy, her son, swindles citizens by dimes and degrees, flashing twenties at bars then paying for his beer with tens. His girlfriend, Myra (Bening), is hustling herself, her salad days as a long-con roper behind her. Theirs is a world of gut punches and smart lines, and the adrenaline these cheats and chiselers live by is palpable onscreen. But a larger canvas? Maybe it's there as a parallel universe. "What do you sell again?" Myra asks Roy, the matchbook salesman. "Self-confidence," he says, a wry allusion to the confidence game all three of them are playing. The movie boasts dazzling turns by Bening, Cusack, and especially Huston, whose mère fatale breaks new ground for noir. --Lyall Bush
2.
THE GRIFTERS is an intense character study of people caught in a world with no one to trust.This cool and brutal adaptation by director Stephen Frears of Jim Thompson's stylish noir novel centers on the complex lives of three con artists. The action centers around the shady Roy Dillon (John Cusack), a low-level L.A. con man and petty thief, and Roy's sexy, amoral girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening), a con artist who is down on her luck and willing to do whatever it takes to get back on top of her game. Rounding out the trio is Roy's mother, Lilly (Angelica Huston), a veteran con artist who shares little with Roy other than a bizzare Oedipal attraction. The seedy underbelly of L.A. life is played out in evocative tableaux, as Myra and Lilly compete for Roy's attention until they ultimately drive him away.
3.
A Martin Scorsese Production Of A Stephen Frears Thriller.
Academy Award®-wining actress, Anjelica Huston (Best Supporting Actress, Prizzi's Honor; The Royal Tenenbaums), John Cusak (Serendipity) and Annette Bening (American Beauty) star in this acclaimed hit where seduction and betrayal could lead to murder! When small-time cheat Roy Dillon (Cusak) winds up in the hospital following an unsuccessful scam, it sets up a confrontation between his estranged mother Lilly (Huston) and sexy girlfriend Myra (Bening). Both Lilly and Myra are ruthless confidence artists playing the con game in a league far above Roy…and always looking for their next victim! The question soon becomes who's conning who as Roy finds himself caught in a complicated web of passion and mistrust!
4.
Seduction. Betrayal. Murder. Who's conning who?
The Grifters walk the razor's edge of life. Hard-playing, high-rollers, they're con-artists out to make a fast buck the best way they know how. There's Myra, (Annette Bening). Sleek, sexy, like a panther in search of her prey, she knows what she wants and how to get it--and what she wants is a partner like Roy (John Cusack.) Roy's master of the "short con"--card tricks, fixed dice, switching $10's for $20's. Myra wants to take him one step further--one step deeper, but not if Lilly can help it. Lilly (Anjelica Huston) has been playing the game all her life and now it's time to get out and she wants Roy out too. Two women, one man playing a taut game where winner takes all, and everybody has something to loose...including their life.
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