The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 154
Fresh: 124 | Rotten: 30
Stylish but emotionally distant, The Man Who Wasn't There is a clever tribute to the film noir genre.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 10
Stylish but emotionally distant, The Man Who Wasn't There is a clever tribute to the film noir genre.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 39,135
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Movie Info
Set in a sleepy Northern California town in the 1940s, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's The Man Who Wasn't There stars Billy Bob Thornton as Ed Crane, a humble barber who suspects his hard-hearted and hard-drinking wife Doris (Frances McDormand) of having an affair with her boss (James Gandolfini). When a jocular stranger (Jon Polito) breezes into town hinting at the fortune to be made investing in an outlandish-sounding new invention called dry cleaning, Ed hatches a blackmail scheme he hopes will
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Cast
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Billy Bob Thornton
Ed Crane -
Frances McDormand
Doris Crane -
Michael Badalucco
Frank -
James Gandolfini
Big Dave -
Tony Shalhoub
Freddy Riedenschneider -
Jon Polito
Creighton Tolliver -
Scarlett Johansson
Birdy Abundas -
Richard Jenkins
Walter Abundas -
Katherine Borowitz
Ann Nirdlinger -
Adam Alexi-Malle
Carcanogues -
Bert Lytell
Bedford Mills -
Lucy Cotton
Helen Jessop -
Frank Currier
St. John Jessop -
Tammany Young
"Sherry" Mulligan -
Fred Warren
"Bud" Carter -
Clarence J. Elmer
Radford Haynes -
William Roselle
"Bing" Honon -
Frank Strayer
Jack Hyde
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All Critics (155) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (126) | Rotten (30) | DVD (26)
Affectlessness is not a quality much prized in movie protagonists, but Billy Bob Thornton, that splendid actor, does it perfectly as Ed Crane.
Top CriticThe 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.
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.
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.
Despite the movie's humor and sense of irony, it takes on a sense of somberness as it progresses.
A paradoxical film even by the Coen brothers' standards: a painstakingly crafted throwaway.
This stylized black and white noir by the Joel and Ethan Coen is meticulously mounted but too emotionally detached and only sporadically engaging.
Some mature themes--best for older teens.
Few outside of Coen cliques paid this nihilistic neo-noir much attention. Perhaps that's its wryest, slyest punchline: To watch Ed Crane is to largely forget him and, upon returning to him, revisit the pleasure of meeting him for the first time.
As good a film as I've seen this year.
Thornton does wonders within the tabula rasa of words and gestures he's limited to.
Mr. Shaloub injects some much needed energy into the film which otherwise feels long at two hours.
Slowly paced for a thriller and with a hero many will find off-putting, this is nevertheless a gripping, unusual and challenging work from the most consistently brilliant filmmakers of the last decade.
It's perfectly, elegantly reticent about its subject matter, as suits both the theme and the tradition of film noir (a type of filmmaking that thrives on unstated motives).
You've heard of a 'vacant stare'; now you know what it's like for the person staring.
Thornton's ultra low key performance is a plus, as is the effectively moody, black and white cinematography.
Once again, Ethan and Joel Coen have twisted a film genre into something new.
Joel and Ethan Coen have created an excellent film that intelligent audiences should really appreciate.
A perfectly executed illustration of what is not, quite, great about the Coen brothers, which is a kind of grandstanding, and another kind of weirdly alienating insincerity.
Makes people wish they could still light up in cinemas. It might not be the Coens at their best, but they still blow smoke in the faces of all the competition.
The Coen Brothers continue to trick up the past, skewing film noir and the late '40s through their deadpan sensibility.
Audience Reviews for The Man Who Wasn't There
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Freddy Riedenschneider: The more you look, the less you see.
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- Carcanogues: Some day I think she will make very good typist.
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- Ed Crane: Me, I don't talk much... I just cut the hair.
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Latest News on The Man Who Wasn't There
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Foreign Titles
- The Barber : l'homme qui n'était pas là (FR)
- El hombre que nunca estuvo allí (ES)
To break out of his achingly dull life Ed decides to get involved with a businessman trying to start up a dry cleaning business. To get the money for financing, Ed blackmails his wife's boss who is having an affair with her. Of course, since this is both a noir and a Coen Brothers film, not all goes according to plan, and nothing is really quite as it seems.
This isn't the best film from the Coens, but it's still really good. It's by far their most serious work, but even then, there's still a shred of their trademark dry, dark humor and some really odd characters and weird things going on, mostly a motif involving flying saucers. Heck, even Ed himself is very much an alien with how he really doesn't seem to fit into the world.
The most striking thing about this film is definitely the look. Filmed in color, but printed in black and white, this is immediately their msot strikingly gorgeous work from a visual standpoint. Unlike some modern films done in black and white, this actually does look and feel like a legit 40s film. It's an impressive job that was done by the production designer, costume designer, and the venerable director of photography Roger Deakins.
I could stare at this film all day and never tire of the great images it has to offer.
Give this one a shot. It's slow, odd, and deliberate, but a real underrated gem worth looking at. The perforances are great, the music is wonderful, and it's just a great love letter to classic noir. Also ,the commentary track is amazingly entertaining and funny in its own right.