It has style all right but the film lacks substance, and a likeable leading man. Ed Burns can be those things if he had a good script to work with but he character comes a cross as very unlikable though out most of the movie, and his voice overs lacks the intelligence of a man who knows what he is doing. Its not Burns fault at all but he comes across more like a street kid who grew up than a man who has his finger on the pulse of the con that he is trying to pull. Paul Giamati is fine but does the same stick he always does, and Andy Garcia lacks the charisma to pull off his role well. The real acting of this movie comes from Rachel Weisz, who is better than the material that is giving to her, and she proves that in spades by the way she makes you watch her every move. She was much more believable con artist than the card board cut outs that Ed Burns and his men were, and she would have made a much better lead in this film as well if the director and the screenwriter wanted to make a better movie. The other actor who gave a great performance was Dustin Hoffman, who does go over the top in certain scenes with his performance but never the less was a menacing force to be reckoned with. The script is a problem with cliches at every corner, and the ending is so predicable that you would be a fool not to be able to predict it.

My Hats off to Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman for giving great performances but the movie as a whole is not worth your time.

The 3 stars is for them.

Slick and improbable adaptation of the John Grisham book not only burns the premise of the novel with an unnecessary bad story about gun responsibility but also lacks the real direction of a director who knows what he is doing. Scenes go by way too fast to comprehend what is going on from time to time and a lot of the movie itself does not even fit with the whole story. Characters come in and then disappear with out motive, and much of the back-story does not make sense in some parts of the film. Not to mention that the whole scam would have been exposed in a matter of minutes if the characters were to try what they did in the real world.

Like everyone who has written here, I agree that the acting is the only major draw in this film. The only problem with that is the fact that you have good actors who are going against a bad script that really does not know what to do with itself. Gene Hackman and Rachel Weisz are the best things here because they are least make their characters a bit interesting with performances that are better than the whole script of the film. Gene Hackman. has done this character like a billion times over but he does it with a real sense of class and menace. Rachel Weisz not only outdoes Hackman in their scenes together but also gives her character a real reason to do what she is doing. The rest of the cast is great as well with John Cusack and Dustin Hoffman giving great support, and a good cast that is really not used too much because the script really does not know what to do with them.

Stick with the book, and see the movie for Weisz, Hackman, and Hoffman, because they give great performances in this bad movie. Which is a shame because they could have used their talents in a much better film than this.