A more useful category, addressing as it does the tyranny of conventional wisdom, would be Most Overrated. For that, I’d happily mark down No Country for Old Men. In formal terms, the Coen brothers’ latest pinball machine is obviously superior to 90 percent of the year’s releases. But it’s also a soulless enterprise, with nothing more on its mind than the expert manipulation of the spectator, critics included.
This led me to write the following two reactionary paragraphs:
Unlike the heavy-handedly manipulative P.T. Barnum-like P.T. Anderson film, this "pinball machine," as the unknown author(s) of the article refers to it, is a film that defies category and might be, even with all its praise, the Most Underrated film of '07. The distinction of the Most Overrated belongs entirely to the critics' consensus winner, "There Will Be Blood." Yes, "No Country For Old Men" is a film that is outwardly exciting. It's scary. It's funny. It's thought provoking. It's visceral. Yes, it has entertainment value. Last time I checked, that was a good thing. But, more importantly, it's a far deeper film than "Blood," if only in its subtext. Yes, both films touch on similar themes - Greed and Existence. "Blood" hits not only its castmembers over the head again and again and again and again, it inflicts the same abuse on the audience. In other words, it's this year's "Crash."
As for The Coen Bros., they seemed to have taken the criticisms of their former films by their critics ("cold, soulless...") to heart. The joke is on their detractors, though. Joel and Ethan seemed to take these criticisms and... push the soulless thing even further in "No Country." A big F.U. to the opinion whores. Ironically, what many critics are not aware of is that the icy coldness is all surface. There is emotion, but it's not pushed into our faces like banana cream pies. It's buried deep in our collective subconscious, where it is ultimately most effective. This apparently is only acceptable if it's shipped to us from overseas in a huge crate with the word "Subtle" painted on it. Having said that, there's one scene near the end of the film that has more old-fashioned emotion packed into it than there is in the entire near-three hour tour that is "Blood." The Coens made a brilliant, original, purposefully ill-structured film (the movie itself is as unpredictable as life). And, unlike Anderson's film, which in my opinion does not even withstand the test of length, "No Country For Old Men" will withstand the test of time.
Good God... now they've got me writing film reviews!
