Something completely different for the Coen brothers, this is an oldschool screwball comedy originally written by Sam Raimi. It really commits to that style, everything is wonderfully overacted and the sets and score are all very exaggerated. Imagine the J Jonah Jamison scenes from the Sam Raimi Spider-man films stretched out over an entire film, mix in some German expressionism and Terry Gilliam, and you’re close to what this is. However, for as much as the Coens nail the style, I didn’t care as much for the writing. As far as ‘capitalism = bad’ movies go, this doesn’t dig all that deep. That means your enjoyment will probably depend on how much you vibe with the comedy, which is the most divisive aspect of the film. In my opinion, some of the slapstick and silliness are really good, but it can get oddly lowbrow and dumb for a Coen brothers film, it’s sometimes lacking that clever layer you can often find in their dumb comedies. Look, I’d recommend _Brazil_ over this any day, but this is still a pretty decent effort, if a little unremarkable when taking their entire filmography into account.

6/10