The Brothers Bloom, the second film of writer/director Rian Johnson, is a near perfect, immensely entertaining, beautifully written and well-acted movie. It’s no an exaggeration to say that I liked it. A lot. Together with Johnson’s first movie, the pitch-perfect high-school noir Brick, Johnson has begun to build a body of work that establishes him as one of the best working filmmakers.

In this international con-man caper, the character Bloom (Adrien Brody) describes his con-artist brother and partner Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) as creating his long cons “the way dead Russians write novels” filled with metaphor and internal symbolism. On a meta level, the same thing can be said for Johnson’s movie: on its surface, it’s a rollicking genre film, filled with sight gags, snappy dialogue and plenty of gun shots and explosions, but barely beneath the surface lies a philosophical movie about creating one’s own reality and the meaning of authenticity. Yes, it’s also intricate and filled with metaphor and internal symbolism. And did I mention that stuff blows up?

Brody and Ruffalo are wonderfully cast as the title characters, brothers who perfected the art of the long con during childhood. Stephen is the schemer and Bloom is the player who acts out the schemes, cons that are so complex, nuanced and thoroughly thought out that they overwhelm and become Bloom’s reality, such that Bloom begins to despair that nothing in his life is real. Though he loves his brother, he also hates him because his life has no meaning beyond that dreamt up by the criminal genius mind of Stephen. Bloom longs to live “an unwritten life,” but doesn’t know how or even if such a thing is possible. This theme plays itself out throughout the movie, which also follows a plot involving—as all conmen movies inevitably do—one last con. So the brothers, along with their silent sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), a mysterious Japanese woman nicknamed for her talent with explosives, embark on an elaborate scheme to defraud a reclusive eccentric heiress from New Jersey (Rachel Weiss). And for the first four acts, Hijinks and hilarity ensue.

The well-crafted script is assisted by some terrific acting. Kikuchi, who carries the distinction of being the only Japanese actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar, does a lot with her role, despite having only a couple lines of dialogue; Bang Bang steals nearly every scene she’s in. Weisz is also fantastic as the all-too-willing mark who’s more concerned about being swept up in an international adventure than protecting her money. Her performance is simply effervescent. In fact, it it wasn’t perfectly counterbalanced by the dark brooding of Brody’s character, it might just float right out of the movie and into the ether. Excellent supporting roles are also performed by Robbie Coltrane, as “The Belgian”, and Maximilian Schell as the brothers’ Russian nemesis and former mentor.

The movie truly has something for everyone: the script is literate and lively, the locations are exotic (Prague, Mexico, St. Petersburg, steamboats, trains, etc.), and the characters are quirky. It’s got humor, romance, character, and serious drama. The Brothers Bloom has the charm of Wes Anderson’s best work, but is more consistent. But, to be honest, it may not be for everyone. The story telling is, at times, artificial and self-conscious. This isn’t by accident, as the movie addresses artifice as a central theme: can someone tell a story so well that it becomes its own reality, without regard to external fact? Some people who prefer more mainstream movies might find the movie off-putting if they are more used to the Hollywood realism mode of movie making.

I don’t know how well The Brothers Bloom is doing at the box office (at the moment, it’s still in limited release mainly in art-house theaters), and I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie gets forgotten by the time the Academy Awards come around next winter. But this movie is likely to have a strong cult following, and is (I predict) destined to be released in a Criterion edition DVD. Rian Johnson’s got a bright future ahead of him, and this film is strong enough that his later works will be compared and measured against this one.

The Brothers Bloom is rated PG-13 for language, mild sensuality, guns and explosions and copious amounts of (mostly fake) blood.