Guy tortures another guy and blows up more guys; movie ends.

Rating: 2/10 (19 October 2009)

"A Serious Man" was sold out, so I needed to waste two hours before the next showing with another movie. I picked this one. Big mistake. It is about a genius government assassin who gets revenge on a corrupt justice system with the aid of a machine gun, an exploding cell phone and blowfish venom. We do not get much insight into his character, because most of the movie's dialogue consists of variations on the phrase "This is f**ked up." Along the way, a series of strange riddles are raised: 1) Why does the CIA assassin live in a neighborhood where junkies are liable to break into his home and kill his family? Wouldn't his pay grade allow him a home with less riffraff and better security? 2) Why would a CIA assassin be surprised at the fact that the justice system is flawed? 3) Why does the Philadelphia city government keep scheduling meetings to figure out how the assassin is committing murder from his prison cell, yet it never occurs to anyone to maybe install a camera or a guard to see what he's doing in there all day? 3) Couldn't the city at least transfer him to a higher-security prison after he confesses to killing about 12 people? 4) Why do the two lawyers go investigate the Batcave BY THEMSELVES when they can't even get through a full workday without a colleague being killed by an exploding object? 4) How can a bomb under a bed incinerate everything but the bed?
I think the answer to these riddles is, "Because the movie is retarded," but they still left me feeling upset and confused. It is worth noting that at one point in the movie, certain events are recorded to a DVD seen by the lawyer character's daughter, and the lawyer describes the DVD as "a dumb horror movie that she shouldn't be watching." That sums it up. Even the characters in the movie thought the movie was dumb. 2/10.