This would have gotten a 10, except I think the Coen brothers could have done better. From lesser filmmakers I probably would have given it a 10. But after O Brother, I know they can do better.

Let me elucidate. I like movies, but I don't know much about them. Only since the advent of the IMDb have I followed who does what, and so my literacy level is slowly rising. I _loved_, really DOTED on, Raising Arizona. Then I saw O Brother, Where Art Thou, and then I heard the concept "Coen brothers." So it turns out I missed Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, and the Big Lebowski, and now of course I was too slow on the uptake for their latest... and its name escapes me. Anyway, I'm going back and filling in my lack.

Hudsucker reached its pinnacle when the fourth wall exploded at midnight, New Years Day, 1959. The janitor and the door painter (Good and Evil respectively) engage in fisticuffs while Norville (the man from MUNCIE, INDIANA, where I was born) hangs in midair, time having stopped when a broom handle is jammed into a really big clock. The janitor, speaking to *you*, says, "Strictly speaking, I'm not supposed to do this" -- and *that* is GENIUS.

It's this kind of playing with archetypes and icons (like the Lone Biker of the Apocalyse in Raising Arizona) that I just love to see. I loved this one.