Reviewed by
Dr_Faulk
It's good. Just, not "Coen Brothers" good.
It's a pretty strange film. It's this weird commentary on how much information there is in the world, how it's organised, and more importantly how easy it is to share this information. There's an added layer to this, which is people's inability to communicate effectively, which, I think, the Coen Brothers do brilliantly (for example, how all the stutters and stammers and interruptions in the Big Lebowski were all finely tuned elements of the script). So the film is a series of events as a result of these two ideas: the obtaining and sharing of information and people's inability to clarify their intent based on this information. I think there might even be a third level, which is at the government level, which is basically saying, "With all this information, not even the Government know what to do with it."
In a world saturated with information, thanks to the internet, it's very easy for information to become mixed up, convoluted, and yet people still act on it with without forseeing the consequences. What the Coen Brothers are getting at is: with so much accessible information at our disposal, we need to stop and think before we pass it around.
And, of course, you've got the Coen Brother's typical trait of having very, very dark humour. I've never seen so many people laugh at such violence. Personally, I think I laughed about three or four times, so it's not even very funny. It's well shot, all the actors are perfectly enjoyable, and the soundtrack is really good, too. I just don't know if a lot of people will get as much as they expected out of it. I'm giving an extra star because I already want to watch it again.