Too cool to bother with character or plot

Rating: 3/10 (15 April 2013)

Just because you are the Cohen brothers does not mean you can pump out any old stuff and call it art, or entertainment. They had two fun ideas, lets get really fabulous actors to play middle age losers and wouldn't it be funny if these jokers found something they thought was valuable CIA information, but it really wasn't. The only other plot element was that everyone was sleeping with everyone else. Really?! Someone could have taken these elements and written a good script and done a decent movie, but the Cohen brothers didn't bother with those steps. There really is nothing more to the movie.
None of the characters have any back-story or depth, so you couldn't really care less what happens to them. The dialog is generic and vague. For example, Frances McDormand's character wants money for some "operations". We presume they are for some sort of plastic surgery, but throughout the movie she just says "I really need these operations". It's as if the writers put in a filler phrase and never took the time to go back and flesh it out. It is almost painful to watch her deliver these lame lines.
Having said that- the stellar cast lived up to their talents. Once lured into this fiasco, they each put their best into it and carried off the one dimensional, irritating characters with as much talent and finesse as was humanly possible.
Complete waste of time to watch, despite the great stars.