Critic's Grade: A-

"I sell self-confidence," says Roy Dillon (John Cusack), a play-it-swift con artist who feels he has control of the complex game known as "grifting." His estranged mother, Lilly (Anjelica Huston), herself a longtime deceiver who works evening out horse-race odds for a mob boss named Bobo, wishes her son would leave the dangerous business and get a straight job ("You don't have the stomach for it," she tells him coldly after he suffers a bad beating and abdominal hemorrage). She also doesn't particularly care for Roy's latest dish, Myra (Annette Bening), who masks a potent history of thievery behind her bodacious curves and oh-so-innocent smile.

The important question going through our minds through "The Grifters" is simple: Who's conning who? The outward story elements would initially have us believe in a straightfoward story of one person cheating another, but in reality, the characters here are cheating themselves, wallowing in their surpressed lifestyles of deception and disgust, stopping for mere moments to take introspective glances at what makes them work.

Director Stephen Frears keeps things moving at a pace that is neither frenetic nor maddening: it simply allows us the advantage of getting into the setting and the minds of the characters without feeling overwhelmed. His wonderful storytelling capabilities run parallel to his impeccable visual style, which incorporates various influences from all manner of eras, rising above the bravura of most con-thrillers to become something more. The cast is spellbinding: Bening makes for a very elusive and cunning femme fatale, and Huston and Cusack find a fascinating level of Norman Bates/Mother chemistry that radiates tension throughout. Those looking for a more over-and-done-with film will be sorely disappointed, but those seeking a refreshingly different venue into the thriller genre will no doubt find "The Grifters" to be a highly rewarding experience.

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