Sharper

Con artist movies are usually built around an ensemble of shady types conning each other. A spectrum of reluctantly shady and unapologetically shady. But for a con artist movie to work, the filmmakers have to con the audience as well. This is a desirable thing for audiences who like “art of the con” stories. But it’s pretty easy to trick an audience with movie magic – you mainly just omit key information. Sharper uses all kinds of filmmaking and storytelling trickery to leave the audience in the dark. Omitted conversations, time jumps, flashbacks, and unreliable narrators twist the movie reality and take the viewer on a mind-bending ride. If you like slick, scam stories, that’s a good thing. But maybe Sharper withholds for a little too long, and you’re often guessing who you should be following and who the protagonist is. Characters you thought were important end up just standing there during key scenes, because their bit’s been played-out already. And plot-wise a lot of this is pretty predictable if you’ve seen The Sting, so it’s the characters that hold it together. It’s a well-made movie, but in terms of satisfaction, it’s a mixed bag.