Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine’s review published on Letterboxd:
Action!: Three Degrees Of Separation - Ethan and Coen's Ride Through The Highway Of Quirk
As a child, when the trailer for this movie was released, I did everything I could to get a copy of this film through some *ahem* questionable means. What I watched repeatedly was the now iconic Brad Pitt dancing scene and him getting punched by Malkovich, two things that made me laugh nearly two decades later.
This brings me to my favorite thing about this film, which is the strong comedy. The last time I laughed that hard at a Coen Brothers film was probably The Great Lebowski. I have found it hard to enjoy the Coen's much over the top characters, as you've seen in my reviews. I think that has been their Achilles' heel, but they managed to get around it, and finally they succeeded.
Their success here is largely due to finding the right actors to portray these characters. Instead of having actors force themselves into the Coens' humor and trying to fit into their respective style of acting, they found people who in many ways "get" these characters. Pitt (who kinda looks like Benicio Del Toro) is the ultimate laidback bimbo. Malkovich pretty much plays himself and Clooney has already mastered the quirky humor he started developing more than a decade ago before his debut film with the Coens. Frances also does a nice job portraying her character in a way that's never insulting, rather playing on stereotypes and using them to propel the humor and plot forward.
Furthermore, because of the Coens' script and direction, they capture your imagination as to what a spy thriller could and should be. Though it never truly falls into the parody or spoof category, it does capture the essence of it and makes for a compelling story about a conspiracy that may or may not put the world in jeopardy. As I literally just spent the last 5 months watching "The Americans," a show where this subplot would play entirely differently, it was particularly funny how the Russians didn't give a fig about it this time around. Moreover, it is an interesting commentary of the relationship between two countries whose friendship still remains unknown, do they plan to kill Americans or is Uncle Sam good friends with the European nation?
All in all, a fun spy comedy directed by a duo that continues to deliver on their legacy, as they depart from the neo-Western that saw them finally taking the Oscar statue.
TODAY SCHEDULE
World Cinema
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Saw
