No Country For Old Men should be deported

Rating: 1/10 (8 February 2008)

I went to see this supposedly new and exciting, academy award nominated film by the Coen Brothers because I adored Fargo and Oh Brother. The Coens are superbly talented and I have to admit I wish I had been born with their remarkable talents. I went at 1:00 pm and was in the theater with five other people scattered about. I was so excited, as I hadn't been to a movie theater in probably five years and went to see it on the sly while my husband was at work. I anxiously sat through the trailers and then the movie began. It dragged along and I kept looking at my watch. It dragged along some more and I checked my watch again. I thought his movie would never end, and then when it did end it ended so abruptly with the plot hanging that no one in the theater moved. It was like all of us were stupefied. I thought about it all the way driving home. Did I miss something? Was this really an intellectual movie that was supposed to carry the audience into some deep abyss of thought--good v. evil, etc., or what? I'm a college graduate, school teacher, a "thinker", but the $5.50 matinée price of the ticket was more than what I got out of the movie. I was sooooo disappointed. The Coens clever little tricks and remarks that add so much color and flavor to their work emerged weakly in spots, but I guess I expected more witticism and quirkiness, and I was very disappointed that I wasn't treated to this side of their talent. Like another reviewer who didn't like this movie, I also wish the loose ends had been sewn up. With all the problems in the world today, I want the movies I see to allow me to leave the theater with the story in place, without having to dig deep and ponder some hidden meaning or esoteric something or other. That takes too much energy in this heavy energy-expending world. I asked a worker at the theater if he had understood the movie and he said he heard that the killer supposedly represented the devil, but that's all he got out of it. I wish that the scene changes hadn't been so choppy in places (editing?)and had not been spattered with white flecks that made it seem like it was an old film from the 1930s. The acting was definitely noteworthy. Anyway, I was sorely disappointed. I wanted another clever film, one I would later purchase on DVD and watch over and over again with enjoyment. Maybe not another Oh Brother, but something comparable in style. My advice to movie goers is to give this movie a shot, but you may be disappointed for what you pay for the price of the ticket.