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Created Oct 07, 2008 03:28AM PST • Edited Oct 07, 2008 05:07AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   A fun, mid-level Cohen Brothers film buoyed by two genius sequences involving CIA agents trying to figure out the web of idiocy unfolding around them.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Brad Pitt is either a great actor or a fantastic dumbass, ’cause he was truly convincing as the air-headed Chad. George Clooney came off as surprisingly, perfectly desperate. Frances McDormand transforms into a ball of nauseating, conniving insecurity. Malkovich is… well, Malkovich.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    Snappy dialogue, but with a convoluted plotline (though that’s probably by design…)

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.5

    Everyone swears up a storm here, and there’s a surprising amount of bloody violence…

17. Sex Erotic 3.5

18. Violence Brutal 3.5

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.2

    Everything’s connected…. in a very contrived way.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.2

23. Biological Surreal 2.2

24. Physical Surreal 2.2