The Brothers Bloom

Filmmakers are naturally drawn to stories of con artists, and no doubt see them as kindred spirits.

Each works hard to sustain an illusion, and runs the risk of losing the moviegoer, or the mark, if he makes the slightest misstep.

It's a tough racket either way, a little too tough for Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom" featuring Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as brother confidence men trying to swindle a daffy heiress (Rachel Weisz) out of a few million dollars.

Johnson's a talented writer, and shows off during a clever prologue that describes the brothers' foster-home past, where their scams fed an us-against-the-world bonding.

As adults, this togetherness begins to suffocate Bloom (Brody), who wants to live an "unwritten life," free of the elaborate, often literary schemes designed by genius brother Stephen (Ruffalo).

Stephen's latest has them pretending to be swindlers pretending to be dealers of rare antiques. They invite a reclusive rich girl named Penelope (Weisz) to participate in on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a stolen rare book in Prague, and sell it at a huge profit to a buyer in Mexico.

Bloom's job is to make lonelyhearts Penelope fall for him — the kind of exploitive subterfuge that's taken a toll on his conscience. (And he doesn't have to pretend to fall in love with the charming Penelope).

The tone is light and comic, the details often precious — the trio travels to Europe on a steamer, chugs across Europe on a steam-engine train. Weisz likes the role of monied eccentric, and pulls "Bloom" in the direction of screwball comedy.

Once we reach Prague, however, "Brothers Bloom" starts making weird gyrations in tone, hinting at something darker, something the movie is simply not substantial enough to bring off. (It echoes the streak of grisliness in Johnson's debut "Brick.")

The tension between the brothers, so often played for teasing laughs, begins to take on the weight of tragedy, and the movie simply can't support it.