I’ve come to realize that I don’t really enjoy movies about con artists. I’m not exactly thrilled with this revelation, though, as my early experiences with the genre are tinted positively with fond memories of The Sting and Paper Moon (both of which were released in 1973, a banner year for con movies, apparently). Watching scrappy underdogs beat back their unfortunate lot in life by way of wits and gumption is a particularly appealing form of entertainment for me, so why do most movies about grifters fail to hold my attention?
The reason is actually quite simple: All too often, narrative and character are sacrificed at the altar of “the swerve,” an annoying trend in cinema in which fooling an audience through a complicated web of deception and misdirection is more important than telling a decent story. I’ve seen it a million times before, and I don’t care to see it any more – and this is exactly what kills Benjamin Caron’s Sharper.
Told through several chapters focusing on the various elements and players involved in an elaborate long con, Sharper doesn’t start out half bad. In fact, I found myself intrigued with its structure well into the second act, right up until it became obvious that director Caron’s true intentions were not to finish out his film in any kind of meaningful or memorable way but to outsmart his audience with a barrage of “clever” twists and turns. How many times do we have to suffer predictable zigzags in which we come to find out it was the hustler being hustled all along? Can we please put a cap on this already?
What makes Sharper even more frustrating to watch is that its cast is well-rounded and full of potential. Justice Smith brings just the right amount of naivete and malice to his role as the mark, while Sebastian Stan completely embodies the kind of sleaze and arrogance needed for such a crook. Adding to the line-up, Julianne Moore and John Lithgow once again prove they can still handle themselves in a pinch. Briana Middleton’s surly protege may be the weak link, but only in comparison to such an already stacked cast. I’d really like to see this whole group make another attempt at a better movie, preferably one that doesn’t insult its audience with pointless trickery.
In the end, Sharper is more forgettable than genuinely hateable, and to be honest, I’m not sure which is worse. Ten years from now, no one will be talking about the movies they were indifferent to because those are the ones that fade into memory without a second thought. Unfortunately, Sharper will be long gone before you ever notice it’s missing.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.