I enjoy a clever movie as much as the next person. Sometimes, though, those plots can become too intricate for their own good. There is nothing wrong with the proverbial gears within gears, but if it is unclear what they are turning, then what is the point? There are those who level similar accusations at Catholicism, saying that it is too complex a religion and that a relationship with God should be much simpler. To that I would say that such criticisms are focusing on the wrong thing and missing the reason for the Church’s accoutrements. Put differently, Catholicism is a good kind of complex. Today’s film is neither bad nor good in terms of being complicated, though I think Sharper (2023) aspires to the latter of those states. Unfortunately, it is pretty clear what is going on from the start, and I think my synopsis will bear out this fact.

Sharper opens with Tom (Justice Smith), a quiet young man working at a used bookstore in Manhattan. When Sandra (Briana Middleton), a graduate student looking for a particular book, enters the shop, the two strike up a conversation that leads to dinner and then a relationship. Tom is emotionally vulnerable and tells Sandra that his mother died and that his wealthy father, Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow), has remarried. Sandra eventually reveals troubles of her own. Her brother owes money to dangerous men, and she fears that he will be hurt unless she can pay his debt. Tom offers to help and obtains $350,000 from his father. Shortly after receiving the money, Sandra disappears. Tom is devastated, but the film then rewinds to reveal that almost everything about Sandra was part of a confidence scheme. Her real name is Sandy, and before meeting Tom she was a troubled young woman on parole with a drug problem. Max (Sebastian Stan), an experienced con artist, finds her and trains her to become the polished Sandra. He teaches her how to dress, speak, and invent a convincing personal history, while another member of the scheme poses as the threatening brother. Sandy becomes romantically involved with Max even as he prepares her to manipulate Tom. After the bookstore con succeeds, Sandy brings the money back to Max. The story then shifts to Madeline Phillips (Julianne Moore), Richard’s sophisticated girlfriend. Max appears to be her estranged son, and his reckless behavior repeatedly threatens her relationship with Richard. In reality, Madeline and Max are longtime partners in crime and romance. Their plan is to convince Richard that Max is an unstable embarrassment whom Madeline nevertheless feels obligated to protect. During a confrontation at Richard’s apartment, Max apparently becomes violent, prompting Madeline to send him away and convincing Richard that she has chosen him over her son. To make this happen, Richard pays off Max with the understanding that the so-called son will go away, never to return. Instead, the money is part of a scam Madeline and Max have been running on Richard to make off with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just when Max believes he and Madeline are about to get away, she tells him that she is staying with Richard. With Max removed from the picture, Richard marries Madeline. The con becomes enormously profitable when Richard dies and leaves most of his fortune, worth billions, to her rather than to Tom. Tom is not surprised given the strained relationship he had with his father, but he continues to live in the apartment. He also announces that he is having an old family associate, Pat Braddock (Darren Goldstein), find Sandy and recover his lost money. Madeline is worried about this given her connection to Sandy and is even more worried when the young woman is found and brought to the apartment. Sandy privately reveals to Madeline that she knows about her connection to Max and demands to see the conman. Madeline locates Max and brings Sandy to meet him. They are followed by Pat and Tom. A confrontation follows in which Tom takes Pat’s gun. Sandy tries to stop Tom from killing Madeline and knocks the weapon away, but Madeline picks it up. Tom then forces the confrontation until the gun fires and he is apparently killed. Horrified by what has happened and desperate to avoid prison, Madeline agrees to transfer Richard’s fortune to the charitable foundation he had established. Madeline, Max, and Sandy leave the scene believing they have escaped yet another disaster. Only then does the film reveal its final con. Tom is alive. The shooting was staged using a blank cartridge and fake blood, and Sandy was no longer working for Max and Madeline at all. After Max abandoned her, she eventually found Tom and confessed what they had done to him. Tom and Sandy then constructed a scheme of their own with help from Tipsy (Phillip Johnson Richardson) and Goldie, the conman who has been posing as Pat. They knew that Madeline’s greed and fear of exposure could be used against her, just as she and Max had exploited everyone else. Sandy’s apparent relapse, her discovery by “Braddock,” the meeting with Max, and Tom’s apparent death were all designed to pressure Madeline into voluntarily surrendering Richard’s fortune to his foundation. Madeline and Max realize too late that they have been outplayed. Sandy, meanwhile, is finally free of the people who trained and exploited her. The film closes by returning to Tom and Sandy, who meet again at the bookstore where their relationship began. This time there is no invented brother, no carefully rehearsed identity, and no fortune waiting to be stolen.

Whether Sandy and Tom’s relationship can survive everything that came before is left open at the end of Sharper, but for once the possibility between them is based on something closer to the truth. And the truth is that all this should have been immediately evident from the opening seconds of the film. At the beginning, you are given a definition of the title term, which means someone who survives on his or her own wit. By the way, it is also an old-fashioned word for a con artist. Thus, as soon as Sandy leaves Tom with the $350,000, I knew she was not going to return, at least not initially. There are other clues, but it seemed evident what was about to happen. The fact that she does come back and is accepted by Tom is a testament to the truth of a few different Catholic teachings. The first is Confession, which I have capitalized because of its sacramental significance to us faithful. However, I also use it because that is how Sandy describes what she wants to do with Tom. Of course, her confession to Tom is not the Sacrament of Confession, and Tom cannot grant sacramental absolution. What the scene does illustrate is something the sacrament makes especially vivid for Catholics: confession opens the way to forgiveness and reconciliation. Sandy admits what she has done rather than continuing to hide behind another con, and Tom ultimately forgives her. Their reconciliation is not absolute because she still seems to need to earn back some of his trust, but he is clearly open to rebuilding their relationship. It is in this willingness to forgive that Tom resembles Jesus, whom all Christians are called to imitate.

Still, I am not sure I would call upon you to watch Sharper. I spent much of its runtime not caring about any of the characters except for Tom. He is the most human of them all. To be sure, I am happy with the result, but it was a little too obvious in arriving at it.