This is probably one of the most bittersweet pictures I've seen. Bitter, because I always felt it's a rather bleak and disturbing affair, but rendered sweet thanks to the colorful group of characters and their amusing banter (which is nicely emphasized with all those accents they have there, don'tcha know?). Parts of this film are pretty amusing, but parts of it are pretty sad. The whole affair is a funny-but-sad case.

This story is pieced together from a couple of real-life cases, but populated with fictional characters. It's a pretty simple set-up: a man arranges to have his own wife kidnapped, hoping to weasel money from her father in the form of a ransom. What should be a simple and painless situation becomes a total disaster, because nearly every character thinks they know what they're doing and they think they're so hot, but they're all really inept. A series of mishaps and bad decisions causes a cascade of murders and a rather tragic outcome. Well, heck, the final scene is one of the bloodiest and messed-up things conceivable. As crazy and funny as it is to see things deteriorate over stupid mistakes, it is a sobering reflection on crime, greed, and humanity overall. I think the cop sums it up well at the end, for after running through the situation, she asks, "and for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, ya know. Dontcha know that?" All that being said, I feel the story does take one too many random tangents. A lot of screen time is spent on the cop's personal life, which never really has much relevance to the case. I suppose it's perfect for showing a little more humanity on screen, and to contrast directly with the other guy's family. However, I do believe these extraneous scenes slow down the pacing a lot, and sidetracks from the main story.

This film has good, straightforward photography and editing. Acting is effectively perfect from the whole cast, and the writing is good. This production uses very real-looking sets, props, costumes, and locales. Carter Burwell's music score is haunting, dramatic, and beautiful all at once.

This film has garnered its share of acclaim for darn good reasons. I always believed it could be a tighter film, but it is still well worth seeing for its great cast, its distinctive dialogue (complete with accents), and its ability to instill feelings of amusement and sorrow.

Recommended.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Good | Film: Very Good)