great lighting, cool camera, great acting, pretty boring.

As slow and droopy as a beethoven ballad, but just as smooth and well crafted. Coen brothers take another passive, fundamentally unlikable person and turned him into a hero. They again state the way things just happen without an imposed coherence but a natural chaotic coherence and that truth is anything but a static incrementally revealed global state, but more of a soupy mess in your own head made of intra and extra personal stimuli. And Thornton wouldn't lose cool in a ronald mcdonald suit.

And neither was I .... as I had fallen asleep twice watching this movie.Third time was a charm... sort of... as I still just couldn't be won over.Was it the slow drawn out pace,the laconic tones and dark background, who knows.Was trying to work out where the movie was going and just didn't care in the end and found the ending to be ...unfulfilling.Nice performance by the laid back Billy Bob Thornton though.

The more I think about it, the more I love it. Ending is fantastic

This movie is fantastic. Visually it's probably the best the Coens have ever done. Somehow they managed to capture the 50s noir style without making the movie itself feel old or like one big homage. The movie itself is incredibly modern, and yet it deliberately plays with our expectations regarding old Noirs, and cuts them to pieces. I guess that`s true of all Coen movies, but it visually screams it here. These guys are way smarter than I'll ever be.

Far and away the Coen's greatest effort. Contains all the substance of Barton Fink or A Serious Man, and improves on all the style of those two films, and anything else in their filmography.

I know, this is kind of weird: I like the plot very much, I appreciate how it dares to develop and goes further than expected at times. But looking back, I don't recall really enjoying it after the first scene in the barber shop.

really love film-noir

Well-crafted film noir homage.

Sometimes I forget how good the Coens really are. The film is easily the most beautiful one they've made, everything just looks great - real eye candy. Thornton is great in the lead, one of his best performances. Actually, probably his best one yet. Love the noir storytelling motif and the ending is great. Recommended.

A dark, sedate chronologue of a laconic, apathetic man that doubles as a parable, or metaphor for the non-existence of modern man. The Coens masterfully craft, through beautiful B & W imagery, and abstraction, a chaotic world, where there is a loose thread of inevietable coherence. They really delve into the contradictions of the human condition. Probably their third best film behind No Country & Barton Fink.

#, story, reviews, Coen-brothers!, (casting)

Stylistically great. It's well crafted with a sublime and violently greyish grading, maybe symbolizing the dullness of Thorntons world. The characters aren't as crazy and far-fetched as in some other Coen-movies, which made it lack specularity and ultimately also my interest; the plot being what it is: slow and for the last 30 minutes, incredible and close to boring. The acting is great though, and the level is so high in so many aspects of the film - even when it gets boring or uninteresting.

thornton's narration is fantastic and the noir style is fitting. i definitely believe the coens have done way better, but this isn't a movie to ignore. watch it, just don't expect a masterpiece.