Bloody hell. When you said "meh", I thought you meant, "kind of, alright, I suppose", but that seemed downright vicious!
I agree it is a riff on Noir, almost a piss take.
Do you like their other movies?
And quite literally so. Har-di-har-har! Now I don't know if something got lost in translation here, but doesn't a "piss take" imply a lack of respect? Btw, nice explanation of double etendres in that context.
And I stand by my "dumb" comment. The Coens make fun of their characters in an absolutely lowbrowed way. Maybe deliberately so, but if there lies the cleverness, I fail to recognize it. Plus, it just falls flat. Wannabe-artists laughing there heads off in a conference call - not funny. A raging Vietnam vet smashing the wrong car - not funny. It is all so predictable and stereotyped, it drains the life out of the characters and the movie. And did I mention that it just isn't funny?I haven't seen that many of their movies. No Country for Old Men was great. I remember liking Fargo, but my memory of it is fuzzy at best. The same fuzzyness clouds Barton Fink, which I didn't like.
I think a key for me enjoying all theirs is understanding that they never do anything for the money or anything that's expected.
I wouldn't bother with their latest (Burn After Reading) if I were you. I haven't seen it yet of course, but reviews suggest it's definitely Lebowski territory. I can't wait!
I enjoyed the show very much, but I'm also glad the season was cut short by the WGA strike. Even more than Fuller's previous shows (Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me), this one is very "high concept". But the concept gets old after a while, and Fuller seems unable to flesh out the characters or sustain an interesting storyline over an entire season. I'm afraid I will be less than thrilled by the 20+ episodes of season 2.I had the same problem with Wonderfalls, but not with Dead Like Me. Interestingly, the latter one was the show Fuller left after a couple of episodes due to "creative differences" with MGM. Maybe the execs were up to something there.DVD Note: More Casablanca abuse by Warner.