Could Have Been A Contender

Rating: 5/10 (5 April 2009)

What a grand disappointment.
I usually love the Coen's work, comedy or drama, but this movie fell way short of the mark. The acting was phenomenal and the first two acts were funny as hell, but the third...
*** Spoiler Alert ***
In the third act the laugh out loud comedy got dark - very dark. I'm all for dark comedies, but don't spring on the darkness in the final act. A character gets shot in the head while another gets shot and hacked by a hatchet attack. Way over-the-top for what once was a blast of a comedy.
Besides the poorly written dark elements, which seemed to be shoe-horned into place, the flow of the narrative had trouble. It would have been better to open with Linda's plastic surgery consultation and close with its discussion in the epilogue. This means the movie would have come full circle and regardless of everything that happened, ended where it began. It's a shame the editor didn't cut in with views on the subject.
The movie could have been another star in the cap for the Coen's, but it turned out to be a bummer and a disappointment because it seemed rushed and the film itself had an identity crisis.