This curious film is, to me, flawed in one fatal respect.
A largely extemporised crime comedy/drama featuring some heavy-hitting UK talent, it is pretty funny most of the way through. I enjoyed, and was entertained by, about 90% of the movie. Everything, in fact, up to the very end.
And then there are several violent killings.
Now, I don't have a problem with violence, and I don't have a problem with mixing violence with comedy. But when you combine the two, it's a really good idea if there is a point to it - Little Big Man, for instance, where the savagery of genocide is given heightened contrast by the overall daftness of the rest of Jack Crabbe's life.
No such consideration applies here, and the violence is instead completely out of place. The Coens made a similar mistake with Burn After Reading.
A largely extemporised crime comedy/drama featuring some heavy-hitting UK talent, it is pretty funny most of the way through. I enjoyed, and was entertained by, about 90% of the movie. Everything, in fact, up to the very end.
And then there are several violent killings.
Now, I don't have a problem with violence, and I don't have a problem with mixing violence with comedy. But when you combine the two, it's a really good idea if there is a point to it - Little Big Man, for instance, where the savagery of genocide is given heightened contrast by the overall daftness of the rest of Jack Crabbe's life.
No such consideration applies here, and the violence is instead completely out of place. The Coens made a similar mistake with Burn After Reading.