Unlikable and amazingly overrated.

Rating: 3/10 (1 March 2014)

The reason I saw this film is that it's a Coen Brothers film--and I nearly always love their films--whether they are comedies or dramas. However, "Inside Llewyn Davis" was, for me, a completely boring film with very little to recommend it. If I hadn't known it was a Coen film, I never would have guessed it aside from having John Goodman in an odd little role and a reference to Ulysses.
Llewyn Davis is a struggling fictional folk singer. Not only is he only moderately talented, he's pretty much a bum--living off others and hoping they'll let him sleep on their couch for a day or two. Now if he was a nice person, this could be forgiven. But, unfortunately, he's a rather foul-mouthed guy for the early 1960s and there isn't a lot to like or admire. This film is about a week in his life where not a lot happens. And to me, this ALL sums up why I didn't like the film--Llewyn is a jerk and nothing of consequence happens in the movie. End of story. I kept hoping SOMETHING would happen to make it all worth watching but no such luck.
On the positive side, Oscar Isaac's acting was good as the title character. And,....well, I guess that's all there is on the positive side. I rarely have seen a movie so praised by critics that left me this dissatisfied. In this sense, I'd place it among films like "Tree of Life" and "The English Patient". See it if you want--just don't be surprised if there just isn't much to enjoy in this one.