Does not live up to the hype

Rating: 1/10 (7 January 2008)

As hard as I try, I cannot figure why this film is getting so much praise and critical acclaim. Part of the reason I watched this film (besides what I had heard from TV ads, the fact that it was directed by the Coen brothers and that it generally looked like an interesting film) was the great rating it had here on IMDb. When the film ended and the credits started to roll, I sat there scratching my head not about confusion over the film, but about how it got an 8.8 rating. Generally speaking, I find that I tend to agree with the ratings that various movies receive here on IMDb, but NCFOM is an exception to this track record. With that said, here are the problems I had with the film. For starters, there is nothing new or novel here, it's all been done before. Innocent bystander finds loot, bad guys want loot back, innocent bystander wants to keep money and runs for his life, innocent bystander gets killed. Next, Sheriff Bell seems to wander aimlessly through the movie always a day behind the protagonist and antagonist(s). Next, how is it that no one sees Chigurh walking around with the oxygen tank as a weapon. Or for that matter, the shotgun with the huge silencer on it. Actually, there were a lot of little things like that which stretched believability. How is it that the guy walking by on the street (immediately after Chigurh lights the gas-soaked rag on the car on the street) doesn't see this flaming rag sticking out of the car. And what's with killing off Moss so unceremoniously? For that matter, why kill off the wife? Finally, the whole dream story by Bell at the end, what a bunch of tripe. Obviously, there are people out there who got much more (real or imagined) out of NCFOM than I did and I guess I'm happy for them. Believe me, I wanted to like this movie, but ultimately, I couldn't get past it's shortcomings.