[4]

The Coen Brothers run hot and cold with me. Sometimes I get them, sometimes I don’t. This is one of the times that I don’t, and I can only figure it’s because the comedy is too subdued and the point is too on the nose.

Michael Stuhlbarg stars as a man whose claustrophobic suburban life is unraveling. His wife has decided to divorce him and have a relationship with a mutual friend. His children belittle him. At work, he’s up for a big job he probably won’t get. And his brother (Richard Kind) has overstayed his welcome. Everything and everyone is conspiring to crush Stuhlbarg’s character, and he just takes it — he never fights back and never argues. And the Coens seem to be arguing that this is how a man should live his life — content to suffocate in a never-ending pile of shit. The ending perplexed me and made me wonder why in the hell did the Coens ever feel inspired to tell this particular story?

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay