Confidence

When professional grifter Jake Vig (Edward Burns) chooses the wrong mark in The King (Dustin Hoffman), he is given two choices: pull off a near impossible heist or lose his life. Needing all the help he can get, Jake brings in beautiful con artist Lily (Rachel We isz) and a mixed group of "professionals." Nonetheless, with The King riding him and a pesky Special Agent (Andy Garcia) on his tai l, Jake and his team look to have the odds stacked against them.

Bathed in self-conscious cool, Confidence is a heist caper in which the heist is unimportant. As you might expect from Glengarry Glen Ross director James Foley, this pulpy concoction is more interested in giving good actors a lot of hip, salty dialogue as they scheme their way to the royal scam. It's a poor man's Ocean's Eleven, just as enjoyable in its own way, beginning when con artist Jake (Edward Burns) discovers he's accidentally stolen from an eccentric crime boss (Dustin Hoffman, oozing threat in a fine character turn). Promising to make amends by pulling the biggest con of his career, Jake adds a feisty pickpocket (Rachel Weisz) to his crew, which includes scene-stealer Paul Giammatti and Andy Garcia as a disheveled FBI agent (or is he?). With a cast like this you can't go wrong, but Confidence cons itself into thinking it's original, while Burns's abundant voice-overs state the obvious and plot twists unfold with minimal surprise. It hardly matters; Confidence may be derivative, but it's still recommendable. --Jeff Shannon