The most disappointing Coen Brothers film I've seen

Rating: 3/10 (21 December 2007)

I honestly can't tell what they were thinking when they did this. The script is a mess, full of afterthoughts and misfires and very short on any sort of actual point or significance. It just sputters along with stabs of pointless violence and splashes of awkward humor that are mostly based on casting ugly people and then making them sound stupid. The bad guy is Freddy Kruger with a Prince Valiant haircut, Tommy Lee Jones is wasted, Woody Harrelson is (pardon) wasted, a lot of really nice scenery is wasted. It isn't even particularly well shot despite the fact that it is the often-brilliant Roger Deakins. Joel and Ethan Coen have made two of my favorite films and others I have enjoyed, but this is just sadly wrong.