[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brothers_bloom_ver2_xlg_9874.jpg]]

->''As far as con men stories go,\\
I think I've heard them all:\\
Grifters, ropers, faro-fixers,\\
Tales drawn long and tall.\\
But if one bears a bookmark,\\
In the confidence man's tome,\\
It would be that of Penelope,\\
And of the Brothers Bloom.''
-->-- First lines of the opening narration, ''The Brothers Bloom''

Directed by Creator/RianJohnson, ''The Brothers Bloom'' is a 2008 caper film about two brothers who've worked together as con men for their entire lives. At the top of their game, the younger brother Bloom (Creator/AdrienBrody) finds himself increasingly reluctant to do shady deeds. His older brother Stephen (Creator/MarkRuffalo) persuades him to do one last con, accompanied by their regular accomplice Bang Bang (Creator/RinkoKikuchi), with eccentric heiress Penelope Stamp (Creator/RachelWeisz) as the mark. Naturally, Bloom falls head over heels [[InLoveWithTheMark in love with Penelope.]]

A classic caper film in many respects, the Brothers Bloom offers all the twists and turns you might expect. It also offers engaging characters, fantastically sharp dialogue (something of a Rian Johnson trademark), and some interesting examinations as to the nature of storytelling. Oh, and lots of scenery.
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!!This film provides examples of:

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[[folder:A-M]]
* ActionGirl: Bang Bang, the "muscle" of the group, is a slender Asian woman who shows a proficiency with firearms and explosives.
* AirVentPassageway: Subverted and parodied. The escapee is foiled by the air vent traveling directly through the rooms of the building, instead of in the ceiling. The air vent then collapses as she falls into a room filled with cops (who were drawn there by the noise).
* AnachronismStew: The world of the film is charmingly timeless, featuring set and costume design evocative of eras from as early as the 1920's to modern times.
* BilingualBonus: Diamond Dog compares the Blooms' lives to navigating the labyrinth. In the next scene, the large neon sign in Cyrillic script behind him reveals that the bar they were drinking in was called "The Labyrinth."
* BookEnds: The film opens with a sun popping up from the horizon and a car driving on a long rural road toward the camera, and ends with [[spoiler:Penelope and Bloom]] driving away from camera as the sun pops back down.
* BrickJoke: Penelope says near the beginning of the movie that whenever she sees someone doing something she likes, she learns how to do it. After spending half the movie with Bang Bang, she shows off her own new found skills with plastic explosives.
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Subverted. Stephen uses a cashier's check, and scoffs at the idea of a briefcase full of money, saying that only Russian mafia men and Hollywood spies use still use them. Later, a Russian mafioso indeed shows up with a briefcase full of money.
* CallBack: Early in the film after a heist, Bloom tries to go into solitude only to be found by Stephen, who states that he learned of Bloom's whereabouts from Bang Bang. Later, when Penelope locates Bloom after leaving him three months earlier, she states the same, since she and Bang Bang traded phone numbers.
* TheCameo: ''Brick'' alumni Creator/JosephGordonLevitt, Creator/NoahSegan, Lukas Haas, and Creator/NoraZehetner are at a party celebrating the successful conclusion of the Brothers' previous heist--and, metaphorically, the successful conclusion of director Creator/RianJohnson's previous film.
* TheCastShowoff: Creator/RachelWeisz doing practically ''everything'', and Rinko Kikuchi gets a karaoke scene.
* [[ChekhovsBoomerang Chekhov's Boomerang]]:
--> '''Stephen''': [[spoiler:Tastes like tinfoil.]]
* TheCon: The name of the game.
* ConMan: The eponymous brothers.
* CreatorCameo: Producer Ram Bergman as a tactless partygoer who asks Bang-Bang if she likes animé.
* DeadpanSnarker: Bang Bang. See FacialDialogue below.
* [[spoiler: DyingAlone: Stephen at the end.]]
* EasterEgg: Much like in the DVD for ''Film/{{Brick}}'', the Brothers Bloom DVD has an easter egg in the form of one of Rian Johnson's early short films, in this case a silent comedy in the style of Buster Keaton. To find it, put the cursor on languages (but don't select it), press left three times, and right once.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Up until the job with Penelope, the Brothers Bloom have never targeted women with their cons.
* FacialDialogue: Bang Bang has only three lines of actual dialogue (and [[ItMakesSenseInContext a karaoke musical number]]). The rest of her communication is through expression and body language.
* TheFixer: Stephen, the elder brother who plans all the cons. Not so much doing it for the money, as much as he just really wants to write a good story and make it real.
* FreezeFrameBonus: If you pause the film when Stephen and Bloom are sitting in a bar in New Jersey discussing their last con, you can see the entire plot up to Mexico outlined on the piece of paper on the table in front of them.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Practically runs on this trope. The car, the palm tree, and...
-->"That's my new favorite camel."
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** When Bloom and Stephen are talking about Penelope on the boat to Greece, Bloom mentions that she seems like a character Stephen created...
--> '''Stephen:'''[[spoiler: The day I con you is the day I die, Bloom.]]
** Further foreshadowing on the same point, when Bloom is telling Penelope about the brothers' (fake) smuggling background:
--> '''Bloom:'''[[spoiler: Sometimes, I think he'd love to die on a job.]]
* InLoveWithTheMark
* KarmicDeath: Stephen lived for the day he would commit the perfect con and, true to his word (see {{Foreshadowing}}) dies on this very day. It's even implied that actually dying ''is'' the con.
** [[spoiler: Bang Bang lived up to her name and ''may'' have literally gone out with a bang as well.]]
* LastNameBasis: Bloom, for reasons unknown.
* LonelyRichKid: Penelope's life could be described by this trope. After the results of an allergy showed her to be allergic to pretty much everything, she was housebound for her childhood and adolescence. As it turns out, [[spoiler: she was actually just allergic to the aluminum alloy used for the test's needles.]]
* MadBomber: How do you think Bang Bang got her name?
* MeaningfulName:
** Bloom develops from a dependent prop in his brother's cons to his own person. The brother blooms.
** Bang Bang likes explosives.
* AMinorKidroduction: Bloom and Stephen are introduced at ages 10 and 13, showing them bouncing from foster family to foster family.
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[[folder:N-Z]]
* OneLastJob: Stephen's promise to Bloom.
* OpeningMonologue: The opening of the film, a flashback to the brothers' childhood, is narrated by actor and magician Ricky Jay. The narration and dialogue actually fit together in verse.
--> '''Narrator:''' They were the they, all well-loved, rooted, happy as you please.
--> '''Narrator:''' Always there in every town--
--> '''Young Stephen:''' Playground bourgeoisies.
* PrecisionFStrike:
** Two of Bang Bang's three words of dialogue are "Fuck me!" when they accidentally blow up part of the castle.
** Penelope's line, "I think you're constipated... in your ''fucking'' soul," could also count.
* RiddleForTheAges:
** We never find out what Penelope said to the police to get them to release her.
** There's also no way of knowing when Penelope figured out it was a con-job; her reference to the Melville story suggests she may have known from the beginning.
* RustproofBlood: [[spoiler: Averted and lampshaded, becoming an important plot point]].
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Bang Bang decides to quit shortly after Penelope pays the ransom on Stephen's life [[spoiler:only to apparently be killed in a car bomb explosion]].
* ShoutOut: Stephen includes a shout-out to Herman Melville's ''Literature/TheConfidenceMan: A Masquerade'' in his con. It's implied that all of Stephen's cons, which he considers works of art, contain shout-outs.
* SilentBob: Bang Bang is expressive enough to have largely evolved past the need to speak. Interestingly, the actress had previously played another mute character in ''Film/{{Babel}}''.
* SilentSnarker: Bang Bang conveys a lot of attitude without dialogue.
* StagedPedestrianAccident: How Bloom meets Penelope, in a marriage of the classic con and a deliberate invocation of {{Meet Cute}}.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Alluded to (and ultimately averted) in the DVD commentary. Director Rian Johnson mentions that he's polling Twitter for questions that people want answered during the commentary, and comments that doing so will sound ridiculous in five years, comparing it to as if he'd talked about Friendster on the Brick commentary. 6 years later, and Twitter is still alive and well.
* UnscrewedSaltShaker: Bloom tries to shake some sugar into his coffee and it won't pour. In disgust, he puts it back down on the table. The sugar jar is instantly picked up by Stephen, who taps it twice on the table, then pours sugar into his cup of coffee. Still disgusted, Bloom picks up the jar after Stephen puts it down and pours... and the entire jar of sugar pours into his coffee.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whether Bang Bang [[spoiler: died in that car bomb explosion or simply faked her death]] is never truly made clear. The latter scenario is strongly implied by Bloom, though.
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