Beneath its many layers of flim-flam trickery, Gregory Jacobs' “Criminal” is as arbitrary and fleeting as a sidewalk shellgame — even if you lose track of the little ball, the outcome probably isn't going to shock and astound you, anyway.

At least the cast is up to snuff. Adapted from the well-regarded Argentine caper drama “Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)” (2000), the movie stars the suddenly ubiquitous Diego Luna (“Y Tu Mamá También,” “The Terminal”) as Rodrigo, a naïve and untested Los Angeles conman who can't even pull a simple bait-and-switch on a cocktail waitress without landing himself in hot water. Just when things look bleakest for Rodrigo, in steps Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly of “Boogie Nights”), a conniving, impressively unsentimental grifter who saves the younger man from certain arrest and offers him a position as his apprentice and partner.

"If you hate it, you walk," Richard says, knowing that cash-strapped Rodrigo has little choice in the matter. Rodrigo apparently never rented David Mamet's “House of Games” (1987) or Stephen Frears' “The Grifters” (1990) before embarking on his new profession. First, he makes the mistake of confiding in Richard that he has a $38,000 nest- egg set aside to pay off his father's gambling debts. Second, he allows himself to be sucked into a risky scam involving a forged piece of antique currency and a high-rolling collector (Peter Mullan of “My Name is Joe”) who has to leave the country within 24 hours. Naturally, Richard needs the $38,000 to make the deal fly. Rodrigo, ever the naif, reluctantly hands it over.

Jacobs and unbilled co-screenwriter Steven Soderbergh (the “Ocean's 11” director is indentified in the credits as “Sam Lowry”) simultaneously promote two conspiracies in “Criminal”. On one hand, they use storytelling convention to suggest that Richard's entire life story — including his on-going legal dispute with younger sister Valerie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) — is a ruse designed to separate Rodrigo from his money. But if that's true, why does Richard continue to play the part with his fellow conspirators when Rodrigo is out of earshot? And why go through all the trouble and expense — including hiring actors, hotel suites and props — for a relatively paltry sum that probably wouldn't even cover his overhead?

If you can put all the pieces together before the filmmakers do it for you, bravo. If you can't, enjoy the double- take. What matters more is savoring Luna's shrewd, slippery performance (the kid is looking more and more like Mexico's answer to Leonardo DiCaprio) and another great turn from Reilly, one of Hollwood's most useful and unique character actors. As Richard, a loveless sociopath who can say things such as,

“Personally, I don't get the whole family thing,” without a trace of shame, Reilly has the puffy-faced look of a man suffering a well-deserved hay fever attack to his own, despicable ways.