Overrated (adj.): appraised too highly; e.g., "This film is Coen-brothered"
Once again Hollywood has proved that the quality of a screenplay had nothing to do with making a movie successful. What matters is who you know or who you are. That's how the Coen brothers have managed to get producers to invest in their projects for the past 30 years. I'm not saying all of their movies are bad. It is true that they have blessed us with the rare eccentric extravaganza. I'm thinking about The Big Lebowski that is clearly the movie of a generation. But most of their other movies revolve around a self-centered unlikable character who thinks way too highly of himself. Wait, would this be inspired by the writers' own subconscious perception of themselves? Back to the point: this character usually evolves in a rather plotless environment where there is no attempt from the Coens to resolve any of the few intrigues that may seem interesting. But the thing here is that you are not exactly bored during the movie because the Coens drag you along until the end making you expect things to happen. At the end of the movie, they pretend to expose a supposedly brilliant twist. This so-called 'twist' usually makes no sense whatsover and has nothing to do with the 'story'. As you know, I don't spoil stories - not that there is much to spoil with Inside Llewyn Davis - but you can expect this exact technique applied to this latest work. There is one thing that I liked about this film - its cinematography. Kudos to Bruno Delbonnel for his polished work. He stays true to his style. Talking about polished though, you follow Llewyn for a week - from his homeless couch-to-couch routine to his impromptu Chicago road trip - and the guy looks as fresh as the first two minutes he's on screen. Not only does nothing happen in this movie, but even the hygiene of the main character is unbelievable. It is a shame to come up with such a poor movie when you get to work with actors like John Goodman and Carey Mulligan. Thanks to their brand-name, the Coens have managed to get their movie overpraised by some critics. But the audience can be reassured - the movie won't earn significant awards. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had the decency not to award the movie with anything. And I would like everybody to give a big round of applause to the Academy which didn't even nominate Inside Llewyn Davis in any of the major categories. The only Oscars this movie could win is Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing - both nods being legit.
