Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: Fable about a fresh-off-the-bus loser who starts working for a New York manufacturing company just as the president of said company commits suicide.
Biased, pithy comments: Amusing always, fascinating-looking, and truly hilarious now and then, this film is a great watch. Borrowing from the tradition of seeing industry through the eyes of ``Modern Times'' or ``Brazil,'' we're treated to boardroom inlay so gleaming it resembles a bowling alley, offset by giant, sweaty mailrooms filled with scrambling workers and howling sirens. Throughout, we get to see Leigh pulling a Hepburn/Russell (sometimes too much---one more hand wave and I was going to smack her) and Robbins being Charlie Chaplin. Festooned with symbolic rings and truly strange goings-on, it's one of the most fun Coen brothers films I've seen. I could see some audiences left cold who don't understand the particular fisheye lens through which the Coens have chosen to tell their tale, but it was right up my alley.
Other Notes: Watch for Peter Gallagher on screen for about ten seconds. Also, Jennifer Jason Leigh can dress in that evening gown any time she wants to.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Charles Durning, Bill Cobbs, and even Bruce ``Army of Darkness'' Campbell.
Directed by: Joel Coen