A wandering plot and tragic waste of talent

Rating: 4/10 (27 November 2007)

A strong cast can't disguise that the script fails to finish what starts out as a promising setup: a blue-collar worker stumbles on a huge stash of money that belongs to someone else. The owners want it back, creating a great game of cat and mouse with deliciously tense moments.
But about halfway through the film, the plot goes off the rails. The dialog takes bizarre tangents and aspires to be profound. Characters are introduced and developed, only to be forgotten or killed off. The viewer is left scratching his head.
And Tommy Lee Jones, one of the most promising characters, never enters the action. In fact he could have been cut from the film altogether, and it wouldn't have made a whit of difference to the story. Altogether, "No Country" is deeply unsatisfying.
It's as if the Coen brothers set out to make a tightly scripted thriller, then handed the reins to David Lynch halfway through, who makes a cryptic mess of the remainder, leaving the final chapter unresolved.
The blame, I feel, must fall on the source material. Author Cormac McCarthy's books are known for introducing fascinating characters and setting up wicked complications, then failing to resolve them. (Try reading "All the Pretty Horses") It's a shame, as the Coen brothers are among my favorite directors. I just wish they had chosen a different book to bring to the screen.