Masters of the American absurd. Joel and Ethan Coen occupy a singular position in American cinema — two minds so thoroughly fused in their creative process that separating their contributions has always been beside the point. Since their 1984 debut, they have built a body of work defined less by a single style than by an attitude: a cold, precise, often hilarious conviction that the universe is indifferent and the people navigating it are mostly fooling themselves.
The Coens' most uncompromising statement — a film that strips away genre comfort and leaves you with something closer to a reckoning. Thrilling and funny and frightening, sometimes all within the same scene.
A rather silly comedy with many not-so-obvious jokes — and I enjoyed it a lot. The Coens have built an entire universe out of a case of mistaken identity, a soiled rug, and a cast of characters so specific they could only exist in this film.