The Man Who Wasn't There 2001

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: You'll want to see TMWWT for Thornton's amazingly controlled performance as the tragic dope/dupe. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: You may be surprised at how long The Man Who Wasn't There sticks around, lingering in the mind long after everyone has met his or her inevitable fate. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: It's a bit of a mess, the work of bratty geniuses with talent to spare, but unsure of what -- if anything -- they're trying to say. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A noble failure in the canon of America's best sibling film team, a movie that was there just a bit too long. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: It doesn't attain Fargo heights, but it's still a victory. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Like its anti-hero Ed, it's soft-spoken and full of fear; it keeps us uneasily awaiting the postman's last ring. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Full of delightful idiosyncrasies and surprising bits of acting. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Joel and Ethan Coen stay true to their bent for dense heroes and neonoir, and to their unshakable conviction that life usually turns out to be splendidly horrific. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A loving tribute to midcentury cinema. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A lovingly done recreation of the classic, brooding film noir visual style, reeking with atmosphere and gloriously black and white. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Despite the movie's humor and sense of irony, it takes on a sense of somberness as it progresses. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: A beautifully executed film that is remarkable on many, many levels. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: I felt so thoroughly inside this environment I almost didn't need a story. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It takes a very intense actor to seize an audience by appearing to do almost nothing. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A paradoxical film even by the Coen brothers' standards: a painstakingly crafted throwaway. Read more

Steven Mikulan, L.A. Weekly: The Coens have resurrected a hardscrabble California of wooden porches and gravel driveways, of rolling, oak-wreathed hills and one-lane roads, and of a restless people whose meager dreams are wrecked the moment money, sex or a bottle get in the way. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: The Man Who Wasn't There denatures pulp, and although I know this was the Coens' intention, it's not a particularly gratifying one. Their movie isn't there, either. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The Man Who Wasn't There is all there, artistically speaking, but it never pretends to be a feel-good entertainment. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An unconventional, unpredictable thriller that Hitchcock probably would have enjoyed. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The Man Who Wasn't There is so assured and perceptive in its style, so loving, so intensely right, that if you can receive on that frequency, the film is like a voluptuous feast. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A frustrating experience even by Coen standards. Read more

Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle: The Man Who Wasn't There looks noir, but don't be too sure. The Coen brothers provide the black-and-white. The actors provide the color. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The Man Who Wasn't There is the visual equivalent of single-malt scotch, smoky and smooth and bracing in its simplicity. At the same time, it's sometimes too clever for its own good. The humour is as much parched as it is dry. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Affectlessness is not a quality much prized in movie protagonists, but Billy Bob Thornton, that splendid actor, does it perfectly as Ed Crane. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: In this the Coens' sly script is helped no end by Billy Bob Thornton's supremely eloquent performance as the taciturn tonsor, lent terrific support from Frances McDormand as the wife. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: The film holds the interest, to be sure, but more due to the sure sense of craft and precise effect that one expects from the Coens than from genuine involvement in the story. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: There's a fine distinction between the cool and the comatose and, punishingly slow, The Man Who Wasn't There repeatedly drifts over the line. Read more