The Coen Brothers

[Schimid]

Why should I like them?

I got back from watching Burn After Reading, a black comedy that is apparently so smart that it actually doesn't have to convince me that it's funny. I saw the film with my girlfriend and a theater full of fifty-somethings drawing out laughs like I imagine they do at their grandson's high school production, all over a manually operated dildo chair, or the final scene which literally consists of two men sitting at a desk lamenting, "now that was a sticky situation!"

Then I came home and watched No Country For Old Men and maybe I'm just not "getting it" but, what the fuck, seriously. Okay, so the movie is faithfully adapted from a novel and as such, there isn't a lot of dialogue. Fine. I suppose I'm also supposed to gather the sanctity of the American southwest, in our noble plains and agricultural roots or some shit because the film seems to blow it's fucking wad for arid climates, but come the fuck on, movie.

Ladykillers was kinda funny, I guess, at least the parts of it I actually watched. Not that it was really boring (though knowing what I know now, I am terrifyingly wrong), it just couldn't pull my attention away from whatever I was doing at the time. I think it was vocabulary training.

Honestly, I understand that a lot of their films follow unconventional narratives and maybe that's why I don't like them. Maybe it's that all of their endings are unsatisfying and deny closure and I need that because I'm a cultural simpleton that goes to movies for tits and explosions. These guys just bore the everloving shit out of me. I didn't even like The Big Lebowski for fuck's sake, I spent most of my time saying to myself "wow, they sure are high."

What am I doing wrong.