Review of Blood Simple (1985) by Devon B — 11 Jan 2010
Blood Simple is the tale of lies, deceit, and a lot of misunderstandings. A jealous boyfriend (Dan Hedaya, the guy with an almost impossibly ridiculous looking chin dimple) hires a (very odd) P.I. to trail his girlfriend and it turns out she's cheating on him with one of his employees.
He's so crazed with jealousy, he's capable of anything, even murder. An early Coen brothers film that shows a filmmaking style still in development. A lot of key elements that would go into making a great film like, "No Country For Old Men" or The Big Lebowski are present, they just don't seem to totally coalesce as of yet.
McDormand seems a little green in this, her first big screen role and Getz is a poor man's Nicolas Cage, lacking the depth to play off McDormand very convincingly early on in the film. Actually, I'm not sure if it's the actors or the screenplay that's at fault.
The film does pick up quite a bit in the second half however, and the Coen magic does eventually come to life. By the time "Blood Simple" gets rolling to it's "hitchcock" conclusion, it winds up being a great little thriller.
Plus, we get an amazing performances by M. Emmet Walsh as the psychotic private eye. It's odd that a film can have such a complete turn around, when the first ten minutes seem like a made-for-showtime tv movie and the last half is top quality Coen brothers entertainment, but sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.
In this case, the good far outweighs the bad.
This review of Blood Simple (1985) was written by Devon B on 11 Jan 2010.
Blood Simple has generally received very positive reviews.
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