TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Amy Adler Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is a barber in a small California town circa 1948. A quiet man who rarely speaks more than a few sentences on any topic, he has been married to Doris (Frances McDormand) for many years. Doris is more sociable and drags Ed to parties and dinners. She is a bookkeeper for Big Mike (James Gandolfini), a department store bigwig by marriage. Somehow, Ed gets news that Doris is cheating on him with Big Mike. Therefore, he concocts a scheme to blackmail the Big Man with a secret letter. Ed wants to invest money with an up and coming businessman and maybe escape his routine. However, Mike finds out and invites Ed to his office on another pretext. In the office, Big M tries to kill Ed who fights back with a handy letter opener. In a horrifying scene, Mike dies slowly in a gurgle of blood. Ed thinks his tracks are concealed. But, soon, DORIS is arrested for Mike's murder, when it is discovered she has embezzled money from the accounts. Will Ed let Doris take the rap for him? Into this deadly mix comes a piano playing Lolita (Scarlett Johanssen) who takes Ed's attention off the crisis in his life. In this labyrinth movie, there are more twists and turns ahead! Here is another winner from the national treasure of the Coen Brothers. Shot in black and white, it is a quietly noir movie of great power, in words and concepts. Thornton delivers a performance of praise while all of the others, including Gandolfini, do likewise. Naturally, the art direction and costumes bring the forties to life with gusto. So, don't say there isn't anything to do this evening when you can get your mitts on this flick!

jake-law123 Set in the late 1940's, low key barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thorton) inadvertently blackmails his wife's boss, which leads to him killing him to cover it up. This triggers a complicated police involvement with Ed, as well as a psychological breakdown, all while he narrates the events in his mind.Billy Bob Thorton is not only greatly cast, but he is top notch in this film, you feel what he feels, and what he's going through not just through the narration, but through his facial expressions. The Coens captured the psychological feeling through the excellent cinematography, eerie music, and classy set pieces. The events in the film are fairly simple and play out like a pretty standard neo- noir drama, but his narration is what makes it so deep and unforgettable, and what makes it stand out. This is a rare instance where it isn't style over substance, both are very strong in this film. We get the classy black and white cinematography, along with some strong character reading.I had a couple issues. Like I said, it is a standard neo noir film, and the narration kind of over escalates the film itself, and doesn't play out on its own at any point. It also takes a bit of time to set up the plot, and even though it has great payoff, it's still rough to get through. Overall, it's a super solid Coen film that stands out as one of their more psychological films, as well as one of their most stylistic.

Raul Faust With all due respected, I've just finished watching this film and I really can't understand why people enjoy it so much. I mean, the story is intelligent and I can agree with that, but there are so many twists that I couldn't, any longer, get what was going on. I didn't understand who killed who, and the reason for that. And what about the aliens? What do they have to do with the whole story? Also, I got confused with Frank and Big Daver; in my opinion, they were portrayed by too similar actors, with caused some mess in a black and white picture. I understand that there is some great acting-- with exception of Scarlett Johansson , who looked shallow in this, which is unusual for her--, but the movie as a whole is just too boring, slow and twisted to be enjoyable. This is the second time I have problems with a Joel Coen work, and maybe that's just my personal view on his productions-- or maybe it's just quite bad anyways.

jimbo-53-186511 Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is a barber working at his in laws' barber shop. He's relatively unhappy with his life and suspects that his wife Doris Crane (Frances McDormand) is having an affair with her boss Big Dave Brewster (James Gandolfini). Ed gets talking to one of his customers who offers him a stake in his dry cleaning business if Ed stumps up $10,000. Ed doesn't have the money, but hatches a plan to get the money. However, Ed quickly learns that his simple and seemingly flawless plan ends up having far reaching consequences.I know that the Coen Brothers have a die hard cult following of fans, but I've never really been one of them. In fact, I've actually disliked nearly all of their films that I've seen. However, this film is different - this film really impressed me.This film is basically a Cautionary Tale - the Coen Brothers have actually made their audience consider the devastating consequences resulting in being greedy. They also make the audience consider the devastating consequences that one poorly judged action can have on many different people.The Coen Brothers have also created many characters that are not only well developed, but that we can also identify with. Ed Crane is probably the best example; for me he's an idealist, someone who wants to be recognised and remembered, someone who wants to be somebody. This becomes more apparent when he meets Birdy Abunbdas (Scarlett Johansson). Birdy becomes his project or possibly even his redemption. What I liked about Ed is that he was a flawed person rather than a bad person which meant that it was easier to relate to and care for his character. Birdy was an interesting character and it was a shame that her character wasn't developed quite as much as I hoped for - there was a lot of potential with her character which the Coen brothers didn't explore for some reason.I'll admit that in the early stages of this film that I thought the narrative was a bit shaky and found it a bit nonsensical, but as the film progressed I found myself more and more engrossed and thought that everything ended up being tied together nicely. As mentioned. it's a Cautionary Tale and is a film that will certainly make you think.The film is well-shot and the 1940's era has been captured well. Acting was roundly good across the board with Gandolfini and Coen brothers favourite McDormand arguably putting in the best performances.Overall then this is a very good film (and that's coming from someone who isn't a big Coen brothers fan). I thought that the writing was sharp, the acting was good, the plot was interesting (after a bit of a plodding first half). This is a good piece of noir and a very good film in general. Highly recommended for fans of noir or fans of the Coen brothers.