Why is this film so loved by critics?

Rating: 5/10 (9 February 2014)

I don't get it. This film to me doesn't rate the accolades certain critics have been throwing at it, and it doesn't deserve the nominations it has been getting. Mind you, I went to see this film expecting to love it. I'd read several reviews, all positive, and expected to see something special. I did not. After half an hour I was bored and wanted to leave. I love a complicated film, and certainly this was. I love good acting and certainly I couldn't fault the performances --though at time I failed to understand what certain actors were actually saying. But I kept waiting to be engaged in the film, to love something or some character--to just love the complicated plot twists and constant thinking of just who was conning whom. In the end I just did not care. In the end what I decided is that the film just had no soul. There was no character who deserved my applause, just no character on whose side I wanted to be on, just no connection at all. Both my companion and I just looked at each other when the film was over and expressed our puzzlement. We just did't get why others thought this to be a great film. It is not.