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The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

tomatometer

81

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.

72

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 9

Stylish but emotionally distant, The Man Who Wasn't There is a clever tribute to the film noir genre.

audience

81

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 37,215

My Rating

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

R, 1 hr. 57 min.

Drama, Romance, Comedy

,

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Apr 16, 2002

$7.4M

USA Films

Cast

All Critics (155) | Top Critics (32) | 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.

October 13, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

November 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

November 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Despite the movie's humor and sense of irony, it takes on a sense of somberness as it progresses.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A paradoxical film even by the Coen brothers' standards: a painstakingly crafted throwaway.

March 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

January 22, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This stylized black and white noir by the Joel and Ethan Coen is meticulously mounted but too emotionally detached and only sporadically engaging.

April 1, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Some mature themes--best for older teens.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comments (162)
Common Sense Media

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.

September 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

As good a film as I've seen this year.

November 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

Thornton does wonders within the tabula rasa of words and gestures he's limited to.

September 27, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Mr. Shaloub injects some much needed energy into the film which otherwise feels long at two hours.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

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.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

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.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

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).

March 3, 2005 Comment

You've heard of a 'vacant stare'; now you know what it's like for the person staring.

December 6, 2004 Comment
Looking Closer

Thornton's ultra low key performance is a plus, as is the effectively moody, black and white cinematography.

October 30, 2004 Full Review | Comment

Once again, Ethan and Joel Coen have twisted a film genre into something new.

June 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | Comment

Joel and Ethan Coen have created an excellent film that intelligent audiences should really appreciate.

February 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | Comment
Zap2it.com

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.

October 19, 2003 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | Comment
Daily Telegraph

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.

May 22, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | Comment

The Coen Brothers continue to trick up the past, skewing film noir and the late '40s through their deadpan sensibility.

May 20, 2003 Comment
Palo Alto Weekly
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Man Who Wasn't There

Definitely the Coens' greatest achievement. right after Blood Simple, Millers Crossing, Raising Arizona, No Country for Old Men, the Big Lebowski, Fargo and O' Brother, Where Art Thou.

June 5, 2009
LoughnerWasLucid

Super Reviewer

The Coen brothers stylish noir looks as cool as it gets, but is it entertaining enough? No. No thrills, not too much suspense, but hell, no wonder Roger Deakens got the Acamedy Award nomination for this one. Awesome cinematography.

March 12, 2011
Kase Vollebregt

Super Reviewer

    1. Carcanogues: Some day I think she will make very good typist.
    – Submitted by Paolo P (5 months ago)
    1. Ed Crane: Me, I don't talk much... I just cut the hair.
    – Submitted by Sam B (6 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • The Barber : l'homme qui n'était pas là (FR)
  • El hombre que nunca estuvo allí (ES)
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