Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 3.0
John Malkovich quits his analyst job at The Agency and decides to write his memoirs, setting off a series of events that end up with several lives ruined and one lucky woman (Frances McDormand) getting those cosmetic surgeries she's always wanted. The characters are funny - although in the typical Coen Comedy vein of being hopelessly pathetic - and the dialogue is excellent (though minimal: Malkovich makes "What. The. Fuck?" sound funnier every time he shouts it), though it is troubling that all the methodical plotting - to make sure every character is tied to every other character - culminates in a glib joke of an ending wherein the movie openly declares its own
'meaninglessness.' But the Coens are too smart for that, and if I had to guess I'd say that if there is a point, it's that they're saying people are being overly paranoid with regards to the issue of government surveillance - that our intelligence organizations could care less about the actions of a few idiots: true, in general, but I'm not so certain the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the PATRIOT Act are 'harmless.' At the very least, this is a movie open to interpretation and worthy of repeat viewings.
