With Jim Sabatini

The Grifters

Rated: R for nudity and adult theme
Reviewed by: Frank and Chris
Release date: December 5, 1990	Released by: Miramax

Three attractive people who make their living by scamming (gifting) people is the focus of this film noir, directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons). They are Roy Dillon (John Cursack) a small-time con artist who short changes bartenders, his girlfriend,Myra (Annette Bening), who used to be a successful partner in phony stock trading deals, and Roy's mother, Lilly (Anjelica Huston) who places large bets to alter odds at racetracks for the mob.

They all want something they can't have - Roy wants a normal relationship with his mother, whom he had not seen for eight years; Lilly, hardened by the business,wants Roy to quit and get a respectable job; and Myra, who wants to return to the excitement of big-time grifting.

Huston proves once again that she's a great actress; she's tough, sophisticated and confident in her job as a mob accomplice. Cusack is also good as the baby-faced con who has a lot to learn and Bening is wonderfully beguiling, using her sexuality to get her mark. There are interesting people who involve you in their strange career choices. It's sobering look at life thats foreign to most and a affirmation that crime doesn't pay.