Cinematography:
Emmanuel LubezkiComposer:
Carter BurwellCast:
George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, J.K. Simmons, David Rasche, Olek Krupa, Jeffrey DeMunn (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Coen brothers crime comedy concerning the whereabouts of a sensitive disc containing the incriminating memoirs of alcoholic CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich). Cox's wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), who is having an affair with married federal marshall, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), is making plans to leave her husband, and is advised by her divorce lawyer to copy his personal files onto a disc. The disc finds its way via a circuitous route to the Hardbodies fitness gym, where two unscrupulous employees, Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt) decide to exploit their find for all they can get. Events soon spiral out of everyone's control in a cascading series of surreal and darkly comic encounters and misunderstandings. (Universal Pictures UK)
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Reviews (10)
The Coen Brothers on cocaine, or rather this is what happens when filmmakers who revel in the bizarre and absurd take their creative visions to the extreme. It's not that I didn't laugh (Malkovich is absolutely amazing and probably never said fuck more than once in a row like he did in this film), but outside of the few good gags and parodying performances, the whole thing is pretty much treading water. Take away the cast and all the funny lines and you're left with... well, nothing. As a one-off, it's quite fine, but you'll enjoy it much more as a festival of maximally infantile roles for the stars than as an honest Coen film. [60%]
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It’s the typical Coen absurdity - an ordinary man thrown into insanely escalated situations - and it brings to mind the best of what the brothers have done to earn their reputation. It’s got a thoughtful plot, clever twists, excellent actors, great direction, and references so apt that Hitchcock is surely smiling in his grave. It's not good enough for the Oscars like last year, but I like this position much better.
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A black-humored critique of the American way of life, relationship problems, and secret service and espionage practices, in the typically sensitive fashion of the Coen brothers; cleverly directed and very sprawling. Although there is no lack of wit and the running time is just right, one can't help feeling that it's all pointless, excessively noisy, exacerbated and a bit out of touch with reality. One can understand the need to read between the lines and it's more of a Saturday afternoon diversion where nothing much is resolved, but I’m just not willing to accept the hackneyed feel of it. A pointless thing with a filmmaking rhetoric says nothing and it’s not fun.
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The potential that this film could have tapped into was really there somewhere. The premise is very original and almost unpredictable, with one star actor shining alongside another, but as I said, this film didn't say much to me. I'm probably going to repeat myself, but whatever. Brad Pitt is pretty convincing as the nutjob. Overall, I'd rate it about 60%.
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The Coen’s announce a return to cynical waters. That definitely is good news. But the bad news is, that they are returning to waters that they have already peed into countless times. And this time with an almost non-existent screenplay. But in terms of acting, this is right up my street. And paradoxically it makes it better, because everybody is acting their life out, even though they have nothing really to act. Bizarre.
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