I am one of the Coen Brother’s original fans and I was supposed to see it with my daughter, but could not wait to see it. Too many trailers taunting me.  I was a bad mother and went to see it without her on the opening  Friday.  My first impression was that it lacked a certain emphasis, a certain humour and I was a bit disappointed.  Then I let it slip that I had seen it. Mom!!! How could you???  And off I went to see it again.  This time in the VIP theatre. Who pays twice as much to see a movie that disappointed them a second time? Apparently I do, but hey it’s the Coen Brothers.  Surely I missed something.

I have to say I did enjoy the film much more the second time. This is a film about the golden age of movies, a film about capitalism, a film about socialism, about writers and a film about secrets, but most of all it is a film about resigning oneself to the empire of illusion not because you have to but because you want to, because you love it.   Like Ethel Merman sang “there’s no business like show business”.

This is not my most favourite Coen Brothers movie but I found it moderately entertaining and it actually made me think more about it the second time.

Jules