The Grifters

Mr. Frears is as good with the small touches as he is with the big ones – and that means they're great. [24 Jan 1991, p.A8(E)]

The Grifters moves with swift unsentimental resolve toward a last act as bleak as any in recent American screen literature. In a less skillful work, it would be a downer. The Grifters is so good that one leaves the theater on a spellbound high. [5 Dec 1990]

The performances are all insidiously powerful.

Indeed, as the film unreels to its extraordinary climax - a scene that will make your skin crawl - Frears has the larger target right in his sights and, bang, pulls the thematic trigger, taking no prisoners.

Westlake's screenplay has the right combination of vivid characters, mordant wit and avaricious savagery which distinguishes the best noir.

More than anything, The Grifters isn't dramatically shot; black-and-white would have made a huge difference. [5 Dec 1990]

While the filmmakers manage to keep things interesting (sexy, kinky, and ambiguous) much of the time, the self-conscious piety that Frears lavishes on this material places it in an uncertain netherworld that prevents it from ever becoming fully convincing, even as a stylistic exercise.

An excellent screenplay (Donald Westlake adapting Jim Thompson!) that is let down by the direction. Frears is not a good fit for this material. Angelica Huston breathes weary life into her character, but Cusack and Benning just deliver what's on the page without nuance or irony. Benning's happy-go-lucky slut/scam artist is particularly one note - she comes across like a naughty little girl. The sound design is awful and does nothing to build atmosphere - there is no music to it.

An indie crime-drama fixes on a veiled Oedipus complex relationship between a mother and his son, which also involves another pivotal figure, the son's femme fatale girlfriend. One background consensus is that they are all grifters, while the mother is an old-hander, the girlfriend is a slutty self-seeker, they are pros, bar the son is just a small-time crook and being too righteous to go down with the swindle business, what

The Grifters ultimately left me feeling quite disappointed. The ending is quite intriguing and well done, but the first three quarters of the film are pretty terrible. Though John Cusack is strong and the premise is interesting, the premise winds up being the only interesting part for much of the film as it winds up just dragging along and never really feeling like anything ever happens. Anjelica Huston is terrible here (seriously, her pronunciation of Los Angeles made me question my decision to watch this one at all) and Annette Benning is alright, but her character is so poorly written and sexist, it is appalling. Honestly, her character is resigned to being nothing more than an object to have sex with, in spite of showing some serious talents as a "grifter". Anyways, the last little bit does save this one from being worse because it is interesting and the film itself is well made, though the direction from Stephen Frears was quite disappointing to say the least. Overall, The Grifters is a sub-par film that should have been way better than it was.

Some of the cheesiest and most poorly written lines of dialogue ever committed to a serious film. The characters are caricature. And the over the top performance from Annette Benning doesn't help. Cusack was also miscast. Hard to believe Frears directed and Scorsese was even involved. This film is just a poorly done attempt at neo noir that never feels genuine or even remotely intriguing. The critics truly missed the mark on this one.

Je voulais commencer cette critique par une sorte de résumé préventif, du genre « putain, mais quelle daube ! » avec un ou deux points d’exclamation (je n’étais pas décidé). Puis, je me suis ravisé et j’ai entrepris de faire comme le film, à savoir de meubler à fond les ballons ! Par exemple avec toutes les personnalités qui ont contribué de près ou de loin mais surtout de près à l’avènement de ce film, produit par Martin Scorsese, réalisé par Stephen Frears et avec une belle distribution en prime : John Cusack, Angelica Huston, J.T. Walsh (un second couteau excellent), Stephen Tobolowsky (un autre !) et bien sûr et surtout Annette Bening ! Et là, je crois qu’on peut meubler aisément encore un bon bout de temps, à l’instar de ce film qui dure moins de deux plombes mais qui semble en durer une trentaine (au bas mot, environ, en temps ressenti… même en avance rapide, impossible d’atteindre la fin !). Annette a en effet un prénom très rigolo, elle a connu un succès ****, c’est pour ça que déjà à cette époque, elle est une milf ! une milf sexy à croquer en effet, fort bien entretenue et gracieuse et mignonne… bref, une milf ! ou son prototype ou bien son archétype à tout le moins. Rien que ça, excusez du peu, en effet. Mais je me rends compte que j’ai bien meublé, déjà, et qu’il n’y a plus de place… de la place pour parler de cette espèce de bouse à deux de tension, cette bousasse, cette merdasse… non, cette merdasserie qui se traîne le cul comme un rat paumé et mort depuis trois semaines (environ). Une chienlit gênante de vide et de maladresses (au pluriel)… qui a écrit un scénar de paumard aussi pourri, franchement ? c’en est aussi navrant que lamentable : une arnaque !