"Anger begets anger"

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2018)

The first half-hour or so vacillates somewhat, going around in apparent circles, but TBOEM delivers quite well in the end. This film is everything a noir comedy should be. It's satirical of many things: love, marriage, family, small town life, small town cops and police-in-general, life and mortality, younger people, and older people. Though, like most noir films, TBOEM is VERY profane, gritty, and violent, a subtle compassion and a definite moral ultimately comes through, and it avoids the pitfall of simply being tasteless for the sake of being tasteless. Fine acting by just about the entire cast, with special kudos going to Frances McDormand and Caleb Jones. Fittingly ironic soundtrack too. The one or two brief scenes which digress from the steady dark humor of the rest of the film are well-done and effective, as is the beautiful scenery and cinematography. Finally, it's extremely gripping, always making you wonder what will happen next, with many surprises.
Some of the more critical reviews have noted the various plot-holes in this film, which cannot be denied, but hey, it's comedy, which allows for more than the usual suspension of disbelief. TBOEM easily gets away with its stretches in the end.