What Did I Miss Here?!

Rating: 2/10 (22 August 2004)

Okay, so I've heard of the litany of accolades this movie has received. I've heard how this film is a "black comedy" by the Coen Brothers, who supposedly are geniuses in the film industry. And I've listened to friends discuss how creative and wonderful the film is. But none of this, I repeat, NONE OF THIS, is apparent in this movie. What I watched was a film confused at whether to be serious or comedic. And in making up its mind, both elements are fused together in a twisted fashion with an out-of-place Canadian humor.
Basically the story is about a car salesman who needs cash...fast, so he pays a couple of guys to kidnap his wife so that her rich father will pay the ransom, thereby getting him the cash he needs. Well, all goes to hell as the kidnappers end up on a killing spree with a cop questioning all possible leads, including the car salesman himself.
If in fact this film was based on a true story (as indicated at the beginning), I would be horrified if I were close to one of the victims. The Coen brothers make a strange mockery out of the deaths of the victims portrayed and deter the audience from taking the film seriously, instead giving them a quasi-mental hypothermia with the serious/humorous dichotomy. And even if this film is not based on a true story, it is so poorly directed that I just felt like I had wasted my time going around in circles. But yet I'll walk out my front door and everyone will still be applauding this satirical trash. Sigh. What did I miss here?!