5/5 The Jewish touch in gangster land
  by Jacques COULARDEAU (OLLIERGUES France)
A strange little film. Once again the Coen Brothers want to make an anti-genre film. This time they attack the genre of the gangster mafia in an eastern city that does not need a name but has to be big during prohibition. That mafia is working in clubs with bars and gambling tables, and in racketeering for protection. Two rival gangs and one chap taken in between Irish and Italian bosses or would-like-to-be-sole bosses. He has an affair with the girl friend of the Irish man and he shifts to the other side but then he is demanded to execute the brother of the woman, which he fakes and then this brother turns against him and he finally manages, after many sessions of punching and upper cutting that leave him every time healthy and strong, to trick and trap the brother who belongs to the Irish gang and the Italian boss into confronting each other at his own place and the brother kills the Italian boss and our man kills the brother and disguises the two deaths in a mutual gun fight and killing. He is back with his first boss the surviving Irish man who is going to marry the woman of before and forgives our man. But this one refuses that forgiveness that he has not asked and walks away. We will note a slight touch of Jewishness on that Irish man for the funeral of the brother. The cops in that prohibition situation are providing the street entertainment and the cleaning sessions in some clubs that are so wide open that a whole brigade of cops could run in without breaking the slightest piece of glass. But the best part remains the machine gun fights between the Irish boss and the hit men sent to assassinate him by the competitor. The chandelier turns into a "windmill" that is in fact a "bullet mill" and it is funny though it lasts only a second. Overkill is the motto and so many bullets and noise for just nothing is like using the space shuttle to go buy your daily bread at the next block bakery.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID


5/5 Best mob movie!
  by G. Joseph (Pittsburgh, PA)
Millers Crossing remains my favorite mob movie. You might need to watch it a couple times to pickup some of the names, dialog and plot connections. That's what makes it a great movie. It has some detail to it. It isn't a cheesy Hollywood cookie cutter plot. The Cohen Bros. at their best.

The dialog is classic. Get it!

4/5 Handsome
  by Sirin (London, UK)
A handsome movie about men in hats, was how the Coens described this movie. That's exactly it. One of their best. A slick, ersatz 1920s era gangster movie, the Coens know how to respect the conventions of the genre and when to subvert them. The plot is complex and slippery, but never unravels as it pings between the main characters - Tom, the Irish gangster caught in a war between two prohibition era mafia bosses - Leo and Johnny, also messed about by a corrupt bookie.

The acting is slick and powerful, right down to the minor characters including Steve Buscemi as a homosexual bookie who double crosses his colleagues.

One of the Coen's top films.

5/5 Freaking fantastic.
  by C. Bailey (Washington D.C.)
Everything's good about this film, man. The storyline leaves you hanging throughout, while still entertaining you immensely, and it reveals itself to be insanely clever right until the climactic ending.

The characters are very, very precise and likable, all of them entertaining to watch--people you'd want to be in a room with (or maybe not) for hours.

This film does require some listening and thinking while you're watching it. This isn't for people who want to be absolutely braindead for an hour and a half. It's not hard to really get into this movie, but you do need to really get into this movie to enjoy it. And you will enjoy it a lot.

3/5 Ok Coen Brothers Film That Didn't Move Me
  by Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
I found this film relies on its music and cinematography more than its story. It didn't move me as it did others. I find it boring and meandering. There are great actors and great scenery. It just wasn't my cup of tea.