When I entered the theater I had not checked the director and writer for this film in maybe a week, so I continually asked myself if it was a Cohen brothers film, which to me is bad when it's actually written/directed by someone else. I think that there is a difference between paying homage to artists and downright imitating them.

The protagonist (who is played by Frances McDormand) is presented to us a likable person at first. But when she speaks to the police about her problems she seems quite nazi-esque. She wants to draw and test blood from every person who lives in her town to find a criminal. When the police chief informs her that such a thing is impossible because it would be a gross violation of people's civil rights, she doesn't care. He replies, "he could have been a man who was just passing through the state." "Then let's take blood from everyone in the country." Sure... She says it quite seriously. Repulsive.

Woody Harrelson provides good acting, but there are multiple scenes in the movie when he does voice-over for comic relief that are mildly amusing at first but feel stale and forced rather quickly. There were many times when I just wanted to shut it off-- when someone is stretching irreverence out to the point of being unrealistic and absurd it's just bad writing. It's also bad form to have so much voice-over in any movie.

In the early going, Sam Rockwell's cop character is the type of person who would strike me as reprehensible yet tolerable. When he pistol whips an innocent man and woman then beats the man to within an inch of his life he goes from tolerable to I-want-this-moron-to-die. As other people have noted, the police chief (who witnessed all of these things in person) wouldn't just fire such a person. He would be arrested and convicted for attempted murder. Instead, the chief fires him in an almost nonchalant manner.

There is also an additional embarrassingly stupid scene in which Rockwell's character thinks that he is overhearing a violent criminal brag to his friend about his crimes. When the criminal confronts him... he scratches his face... then stares at him. Again, the Rockwell character is borderline retarded, but even the dumbest among us have a survival instinct. When I saw this scene play out I thought that it was part of a strategy or plan-- the Rockwell character wanted to get the guys arrested for assault so he could make his case to the police chief. Nope. Just more idiocy.

It has a few solid comedic moments. But I would never watch this film again.