'Brothers' a 2nd gem from director

Eat your heart out, Wes Anderson.

Ever since the sublime "Rushmore," director Anderson's films have arrived on a slippery scale of diminished returns, visually transcendent but emotionally vacant.

As if implicitly understanding that nature abhors such a vacuum, director Rian Johnson, whose "Brick" was a bold and enthralling freshman masterpiece, borrows heavily from the Anderson aesthetic for his second outing, "The Brothers Bloom," a magically effervescent film that succeeds on its initial attempt where Anderson has so often failed.

The brothers Bloom grew up very much like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, crafty delinquents shuffled from one abusive foster home to the next with only each other to rely on.

Con men since childhood (con boys?), Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) discovered early on that there's a rich sucker born every minute.

But there was always a tug of war between the older Stephen, who "writes his cons the way Russians write novels - with thematic arcs and embedded symbolism," and the younger Bloom, who yearns to "live the unwritten life."

Although Bloom is desperate to get out of the game, Stephen convinces him to stay on for the proverbial last job.

Bloom insinuates himself into the life of Penelope (Rachel Weisz), an extravagantly wealthy, eccentric heiress who lives as a shut-in within a monolithic New Jersey mansion.

Bloom woos her with stories of danger and adventure, catnip to her decadeslong boredom.

Even as Bloom develops genuine romantic feelings and tries to break away, Penelope impulsively joins the brothers and their explosives-wielding Japanese side-kick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) on a steamship for a globe-trotting adventure.

Convinced she's stumbled upon the adventure of a lifetime, Penelope is ignorant of the fact that she has taken the brothers' bait hook, line and sinker and become an unwitting participant in what just may be the most dangerous swindle the brothers have ever attempted.

"The Brothers Bloom's" bones come from '70s cinema, its heart beats with the panache of con-man classics like "The Sting" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and its musculature is powered by quirky, emotionally resonant and sharply observed situations tinged with melancholy.

The performances are delightful, bubbling with charm and chemistry.

Brody and Ruffalo are lovable scamps with a penchant for old-school haberdashery, and exhibit a genuine brotherly tenderness.

Weisz is delectable as the idiosyncratic Penelope.

And Kikuchi, last seen by American audiences in "Babel," nearly steals the show, though she has all of two lines.

Oh, but what lines she and her fellow characters are given.

Dancing between hysterical and whimsical, writer/director Johnson's script is both mischievous and playful, crackling with terrific repartee and wordplay and set to jazzy, burlesque rhythms that reward attention to background details.

"The Brothers Bloom" proves that "Brick" was not a fluke. Johnson's talent and distinct voice are obvious.

Before "The Brothers Bloom" is over, your mouth will be sore from smiling.


The Brothers Bloom

Cast: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz, Rinko Kikuchi, Maximilian Schell
Director: Rian Johnson
Theater: Kimball's
Rated: Rated PG-13 (for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language)
Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes


GRADE: A-