Cusack also has a mother, Anjelica Huston, who checks in on occasion on her wayward son. Huston is also a grifter. She works for gangster Pat Hingle, supposedly manipulating the odds at race tracks but more likely mostly laundering mob cash.
Huston dislikes Bening, and the feeling is mutual. Cusack is increasingly ambivalent about the both of them. Bening and Cusack break up after an argument, and she plots a revenge that gets all three into deep trouble.
J.T. Walsh shows up as Bening's former partner. Another familiar face, Henry Jones, has a small role as a hotel manager. Eddie Jones is the veteran grifter who teaches Cusack the ropes, and Noelle Harling makes her final screen appearance as a naive nurse.
How others will see it. Despite a splendid cast and four Oscar nominations in major categories (Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay), The Grifters was not a commercial success, pulling in only 13.5M in domestic gross.
Today at imdb.com, the movie has a somewhat low 23K user votes and a good-but-not-stellar user rating of 7.0 out of 10. It is true, though, that the user ratings rise slightly with the advancing age of the viewer, generally a good sign.
The user reviews are favorable, though they lack the rapturous enthusiasm that accompanies favorite movies from a genre. Most viewers appreciate that the movie gives us three leads, and that their criminal lives are more seedy than dramatic.
Reviews allude to Huston's unmotherly sexual interest in Cusack, which neither may be aware of, at least until the situation becomes desperate. Bening is described as slutty, but she is a grifter, and her sexuality is part of the con.
How I felt about it. Surprisingly, director Stephen Frears has only one other Oscar nomination, for The Queen (2007). It's a different story at the BAFTA awards, where he has 11 nominations, including two wins, though several are for made-for-television movies or plays.
Nonetheless, Frears has had a splendid little career, apparently without ever compromising his principals. He doesn't pull punches, either: the present movie earns its "R" rating with two murders, two beatings, two nude scenes, and many swindles.
Cusack is unique among the leads in that he likes things just the way the are. In his mind, at least, he doesn't need anyone. His girlfriend, and even his mother, are of lesser importance than enjoying working his two-bit cons on the unsuspecting public.
Huston knows that she works for a gangster who can have her killed if she crosses him, but she just can't help it. She's a grifter. Bening is a grifter too, and that is why Cusack wants no part in her schemes, which will sooner or later end up starring him as the sucker who gets taken.