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The best con artist movies are metaphors for themselves in that they take you on a meticulously calculated ride which all finally leads up to a great payoff. Some films, like American Hustle and Gambit, can’t maintain the facade and offer little reward at the end, but others, like The Handmaiden and 1973 classic The Sting, keep it focused and send you away considerably richer for having stuck with it. Sharper, doesn’t quite land a win that compares to the greats of this genre but it is a smart and crafty movie that more than earns the two hour investment you put into it.

Actually the pay off of this movie might be its weakest part, even though it has elements that compare to The Sting. It all just seems a little overly orchestrated in comparison to the rest of a plot that has stayed quite grounded in how it shows these people playing one another. The denouement might just step outside the parameters the movie has previously set up. It doesn’t matter so much here though because the film doesn’t play all of its chips on this one hand. Whereas other movies might depend entirely on the closing scenes and the big truths they reveal, this one builds in more of a spiral pattern with smaller resolutions continually coming throughout. Being shown in a number of sections, each telling how things go down around different characters and often repeating plot points, the narrative here actually has a serious of peaks and conclusions. The film is nicely layered and often it is not the truth of what’s underneath that satisfies as much as what’s on top.

In fact the first con trick the film pulls is in trying to convince you it is an entirely different type of movie all together. The initial chapter presents itself as a sweet romantic drama until you realise that one of the couple has something other than companionship on their mind. This is sustained for a good while before the first lies are exposed and it all goes from there. It is unfortunate that the film makers didn’t have the courage to play this game properly though because the early words of the movie have already let us know this is a grifter story. A Sharper, it turns out, is another term for a scam artist, and you are told this from the start. These scenes are a nice opening though and it effectively sets up what is to come.

All of this works because of the writing but the performances also sell it. Julianne Moore might not be stretching herself here but she is no less entertaining for it and she is one of those actors that is always compelling. We also have Sebastian Stan who follows his appearances in Pam and Tommy and in the brilliant film Fresh as another poster boy for amoral and toxic masculinity. I’ve heard some critics say this is a move away from the Marvel character that largely made his name but Bucky also had his dark side, that was kind of the point. Moore and Stan are well supported by the veteran John Lithgow and the rising star Justice Smith as well, but it might actually be new comer Briana Middleton, who steals the film.

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The Ripley Factor:

It is certainly Briana who shows the greatest versatility here, and her Sandra who has the biggest arc. Both women in the cast play strong, formidable, flawed and intelligent people who are essential to the plot and are not objectified, which is not aways the case in these movies (see the aforementioned American Hustle, as well as The Hustle and Hustlers – it isn’t just their titles that lack imagination).

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Sharper has had some harsh reviews but I’m not sure these are fair. It isn’t The Usual Suspects but it does round up a lot of the elements of its chosen genre and put them together in interesting ways. Having recently watched Empire of Light, Tàr and The Whale, seeing a movie that is sophisticated but still just seeks to entertain was a nice change. (I saw M3gan too but I’m not sure I’d called that sophisticated.) This may not be one to rush to the cinema for, but if you got AppleTV you fortunately don’t have to.