Tagline should be: Intelligence MISSING

Rating: 3/10 (1 February 2009)

One must always approach a Coen film like approaching a snake with stick, because you know in the end it will try to bite. Some people call it entertainment, I think it's just stupid.
As with all Coen entertainment, the word 'f---' is used more than common words such as 'the' and 'a'. And ALL of the major actors in the movie act like there's a surgeon in the dressing room who performs a lobotomy before they go in front of the camera. The Coens must hang out with some REALLY STUPID folks or people whose brains are totally fried out on drugs.
But it isn't the verbal profanity, it's the actual screwing with people that I find objectionable. All of their movies are depictions of a screw.
And while screwing is certainly an 'adult' entertainment, the entertainment value heavily depends on whether one is in the position of screwer or screwee. So, while all the screwers in the audience laugh their heads off at the antics on the screen, keep this in mind: what goes around comes around...the screwer will ultimately inevitably become the screwee, and then the joke is on you.
Tilda Swinton's character was the only one in the movie that was compelling, and she had the most unlikeable character of them all. Who am I to say? But I'll say it anyway, Brad Pitt IS TOO OLD to be playing roles like this. And a note to George Clooney, you'd do your career an enormous boost when the next time the Coens call, you tell them you're not available...or do you always want to play goofs? Everyone loves a young rake, but when you get older the same antics just come across as hopelessly lost. C'mon guys, you're both GREAT actors, you just need to devote your talents to better material!
So you may place me in the ranks of those who dislike Coen movies. I think part of their appeal is that they play out some adolescent fantasies under a veneer of reality. Except that actually, there's less reality in them than the Lord of the Rings.