Confidence (2003 film)

Confidence
Confidence film poster
Directed by	James Foley
Produced by	Scott Bernstein Michael Burns Marc Butan
Written by	Doug Jung
Starring	Edward Burns Rachel Weisz Andy García Paul Giamatti Luis Guzmán Donal Logue Brian Van Holt Robert Forster Franky G Leland Orser with Morris Chestnut and Dustin Hoffman
Music by	Christophe Beck Dave Crawford
Cinematography	Juan Ruiz Anchía
Editing by	Stuart Levy
Distributed by	Lions Gate Entertainment
Release date(s)	April 25, 2003
Running time	97 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$15 million
Box office	US $23,014,206

Confidence is a 2003 crime drama film starring Edward Burns, Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia and Rachel Weisz, directed by James Foley, and written by Doug Jung.

Plot

A group of grifters rip off their latest mark and celebrate, while de facto leader of the group Jake Vig (Edward Burns) explains the art of the con. When one of the four is found shot to death, the other three learn that the latest money they stole actually belonged to a local L.A. crime lord called The King (Dustin Hoffman). Jake proposes that the grifters work for the King and steal money from Morgan Price (Robert Forster), a rival who owns a bank.

Jake enlists the aid of his remaining partners, Gordo (Paul Giamatti) and Miles (Brian Van Holt), and also convinces an independent con artist named Lilly (Rachel Weisz) to round out their foursome. The King, a ruthless killer who suffers from ADHD, demands that one of his men, Lupus (Franky G), also come along.

The con involves bribing a bank vice president into wiring money offshore. The plan hits a snag when Special Agent Gunther Butan (Andy García) shows up in L.A., looking to finally bust Jake, whom he has followed for years. Butan forces corrupt LAPD detectives Omar Manzano (Luis Guzmán) and Lloyd Whitworth (Donal Logue) to switch their allegiance from Jake to him.

After hearing about Butan's arrival, a nervous Jake pulls the plug on the whole con. He screams at Lilly, making her walk out. Lupus gets Jake to reconsider nixing the con, hinting that The King will torture and kill the grifters if the plan falls short. The con is back on, though now without Lilly's help.

The bribed bank VP wires the money to Gordo in Belize. Gordo brings it to Ontario Airport, where he is met by both Butan and The King's men, both sides after the $5 million in a duffle bag. Butan arrests The King and confiscates the money.

Gordo disappears. Lupus, thinking the King has the money, reveals he was the one who killed Jake's grifter friend. Lupus holds Jake at gunpoint, but is shot by Travis (Morris Chestnut), a henchman for Morgan Price. It turns out that when Lilly walked out, she went straight to Price himself and revealed the entire con, which was taking place that minute. Price told Travis to locate Jake and find out exactly how the con was engineered, to stop such a thing from ever happening again.

Travis takes Jake to an abandoned lot and forces him to explain the entire story. A furious Lilly takes out a gun and kills Jake. Travis demands that he and Lilly both disappear immediately. Minutes later, Butan arrives in a car and Jake sits up from a pool of blood, unharmed.

The final parts of the con are revealed. Lilly's "quitting" was faked -- a set-up to confuse Lupus. Butan is actually an old confidant of Jake's. He managed to "confiscate" the money and arrest The King at the same time. Butan has the money and it's split five ways. Jake was wearing squibs to fake his own death in the lot.

In the end, everyone was in on everything except for The King and Lupus (the first marks), Price and Travis (the second, bigger marks), and the two corrupt LAPD detectives, who have been arrested. The four grifters reunite and celebrate.

Cast

• Edward Burns as Jake Vig
• Rachel Weisz as Lilly
• Paul Giamatti as Gordo
• Brian Van Holt as Miles
• Franky G as Lupus
• Luis Guzmán as Officer Omar Manzano
• Donal Logue as Officer Lloyd Whitworth
• Andy García as Special Agent Gunther Butan
• Dustin Hoffman as Winston "The King" King
• Morris Chestnut as Travis
• Louis Lombardi as Alphonse "Big Al" Moorley
• John Carroll Lynch as Leon Ashby
• Robert Forster as Morgan Price
• Leland Orser as Lionel Dolby

Remake

• A Bollywood remake was made entitled Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena.

External links

• Confidence at the Internet Movie Database