The movie is definitely hysterical. There are a handful of sequences (especially those involving Clooney’s secret invention and J.K. Simmons’ perplexed head of the CIA) that are as funny as anything the Coen Brothers have ever done. However, the movie ultimately doesn’t rank amongst their best work. It’s simply too chaotic, silly, and frivolous. The brothers joke about the meaninglessness of the movie themselves in the screenplay and they have no aspirations for this film beyond silly entertainment. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but as a fan of their work you can’t help but leave the theater wanting more.

This movie may lack the subtle human observations and tragedy of Fargo or the lunatic sense of comic hysteria found in Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, but it is hardly a failure. This is a big candy-colored entertainment factory with gloriously manic performances as well as the Coen brothers’ patented cinematic style and class. It says a lot about their reputation that they can make a good movie and be attacked by critics for not making a masterpiece. As long as you head into this film with curbed expectations, it’s hard to imagine that you won’t enjoy it. It might be a big budget project, but at least the film manages to be a more pure representation of the Coen Brothers style than their disappointing studio projects Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. The Coens are simply two of the most creative filmmakers working today and even when they are making frivolous projects like this they still pack more creativity and ingenuity on screen than most directors manage in their entire careers.