Reviews

Only the Coen Brothers could take a tired holiday format and inject into it a measure of surrealism and a large amount of humour. People who found this too arty or the comedy too black really missed the point - it is in fact a traditional family Christmas movie, and above all it's FUNNY.

Not nearly so dark or difficult as their other films, this is especially one to watch if you're not yet sure you're in the Coen Bros fanclub. Should be standard yule-tide viewing.

The dreary plot in this film is made overly complicated by bad directing and poor editing. Caine, Fox, Gielgud and Havers have all been in much better films. Don't do as I did and watch this on the strength of the cast - they don't deliver, and if even they had it would not have rescued the trudging script of this thrill-less thriller. 3/10