Review: The Con is On
An often fun and frothy throwback to the screwball sensibilities of The Thin Man films and A Fish Called Wanda, The Con is On features Uma Thurman and Tim Roth as married scam artists who find themselves in quite the pickle.
As with The Thin Man's Nick and Nora, Thurman and Roth's Harriet and Peter are an impossibly glamorous pair who are never without their tipple even as they keep tripping into trouble. Their latest predicament finds them trying to raise money to pay off Harriet's gambling debt to merciless mobster Irina (Maggie Q), who might also have been her former lover. Meanwhile, Peter's ex-wife Jackie (Alice Eve) is about to be betrothed to the eccentric, egotistical, and abusive director Gabriel Anderson (Crispin Glover), and her rock of a ring is just what Harriet and Peter need to get the cash they need.
Naturally, shenanigans and hilarity ensue, most of it rote but made entertaining by the film's cast, which also includes Sofia Vergara as Gabriel's mistress and the ever-delightful Parker Posey as Gabriel's girl Friday Gina, whose instability is fueled by her unrequited love for her boss. The coupling of noted kooks Glover and Posey might be one of the most inspired things of all time and, whilst The Con is On is a solid enough film for their pleasing peculiarities, one does wonder how fully their singular talents would have been showcased by the likes of Ernst Lubitsch and Preston Sturges during the genre's heyday.
The film does wobble now and again - scenes involving Stephen Fry's pederastic priest don't always toe the line of tastefulness and Vergara isn't asked to do anything out of her wheelhouse - but there enough highly amusing moments, such as Harriet pretending to be a dog whisperer, to offset such flaws. Moreover, the cast are game and expertly maintain the film's breezy pace.
The Con is On
Directed by: James Oakley
Written by: Alex Michaelides, James Oakley
Starring: Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Maggie Q, Alice Eve, Sofia Vergara, Parker Posey, Stephen Fry, Crispin Glover
