Tom Reagan, the main character in this film, frequently states that you cannot know a person well, and both much of the appeal, and the weakness of this film lie in just this approach to characterization. The film has an intricate plot, and many people will find that characteristic very appealing, but the many intricate plot twists and character decisions somehow do not seem to spring naturally from either the characters or events on screen.
This disconnect is an odd thing to see, because any, or at least most, individual scenes from the film are more or less viable and reasonable in and of themselves, but taken as a whole, you can see the puppet strings of the movie yanking the characters this way and that to achieve complexity and surprise. Because of this, while much of the acting is good, it feels false in context, with scenes failing to synchronize with one another, and with the only realistic characters, considering an individual performance as a whole, being the simple and somewhat stereotypical ones. If you are sensitive to this disconnect, you may well dislike the movie, but if you are instead, longing for a complex plot, you may love it.
I should note that as usual in a Coen brothers film, the dialog is a treat, but cannot fail to mention that unlike their better known work, you are likely to miss a good deal of it, as the sound quality is not high enough to decipher many a clever comment.
All considered, the easiest way of looking at this film is to see it as an early effort, pointing to future greatness perhaps, but not a complete and developed masterpiece.
This disconnect is an odd thing to see, because any, or at least most, individual scenes from the film are more or less viable and reasonable in and of themselves, but taken as a whole, you can see the puppet strings of the movie yanking the characters this way and that to achieve complexity and surprise. Because of this, while much of the acting is good, it feels false in context, with scenes failing to synchronize with one another, and with the only realistic characters, considering an individual performance as a whole, being the simple and somewhat stereotypical ones. If you are sensitive to this disconnect, you may well dislike the movie, but if you are instead, longing for a complex plot, you may love it.
I should note that as usual in a Coen brothers film, the dialog is a treat, but cannot fail to mention that unlike their better known work, you are likely to miss a good deal of it, as the sound quality is not high enough to decipher many a clever comment.
All considered, the easiest way of looking at this film is to see it as an early effort, pointing to future greatness perhaps, but not a complete and developed masterpiece.