Now heres a funny thing… After the intense, sub-Lynch teenage noir of Brick, there are many genres you would expect writer / director Rian Johnson to explore for his follow-up. Perhaps bottom of the list would be a visually inventive, hugely playful, star-led caper comedy. Of sorts.

That, however, is exactly what Johnsons delivered with The Brothers Bloom, a smart, frequently funny tale of orphan brothers Bloom and Stephen (Brody, Ruffalo), their successful career as con-men, and what happens when Bloom falls for their intended final victim, eccentric and lonely millionairess Penelope (Weisz).

Penelopes sheltered, hermit-like existence means shes ready for adventure and, with a number of borrowed hobbies and skills at her disposal – shes taught herself a lot of obscure skills by reading about them – shes an ideal third person in the team. Well, fourth: theres also the mysterious, mostly silent Bang Bang (Kikuchi) who just appeared one day, and now helps the brothers, particularly when something needs blowing up.

As their journey whizzes them across the globe – Berlin, Greece, Prague, Mexico, etc – it becomes clear that nothing is what it seems. Is their mission an elaborate revenge scam by their arch enemy (Maximilian Schell)? Is Penelope conning them? Is Bloom falling for Penelope? And what will happen when the brothers true intentions become known?

The answers arent necessarily satisfactory – the film runs out of steam at about the two thirds mark – but until that point, its a quirky, happily daft delight: think Dirty Rotten Scoundrels told by Terry Gilliam and youre sort of part way there.

The leads are clearly having a fine old time, a mood which generally translates to the audience, and as a whole, while its not without its problems, The Brothers Bloom is a flawed gem. Hard to see then why its been gathering dust on a shelf for a couple of years – it was screened at the London Film Festival in 2008 – when so many utterly dreadful films have found distribution. Never mind, better late than never and its out now in all its exuberant glory – however imperfect and silly that may be.

Stars Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane

Written and directed by Rian Johnson

Cert 12A

Runtime 113 minutes