I should begin by saying that I love the Coen brothers, but if you don't like their other works, you probably won't like this one. And not without reason; the Coen brothers' quirky style is often seen as too much head and not enough heart—the movies can drown in their own cleverness. But I get such a kick out of their films. An adequate comedy will make me smile. A good comedy will make me chuckle under my breath. But very few movies actually make me laugh out loud, and this one did. Clooney's performance was wonderfully quirky, very reminiscent of his work in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and more than good enough to offset Catherine Zeta-Jones' typically shallow portrayal. But what I love most about these films are the bizarre, ridiculous moments, and this film had ones right up there with the dream sequence in The Big Lebowski.

Viewed: 2003-10-11 | Released: 2003-09-29 | Score: A

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