Review of Miller's Crossing (1990) by Jj S — 15 Aug 2013

Miller's Crossing is, as of now, my least favorite Coen brothers film, yet that's not saying much because they're among my favorite filmmakers of all time. There's definitely a lot to admire here, and I could easily tell as to why someone would adore this film. It has all the typical elements of a classic Coen brothers film, including the unpredictable twists, the sheer style, the quirky characters and dialogue, and the absurd morbid, dark humor. Yet for some odd reason that I can't quite exactly pin down, Miller's Crossing failed to resonate me, and although it certainly had its moments of amazement, it was thematically weak. You would think that if the gangster genre, which is one of those ultra-cool, stylish, and complex genres, and a Coen brothers film, which are all different but are all so unique in the best way possible, combined, the results would be groundbreaking. Evidently, many other people that have watched this film love it, many even claiming it's one of their best, and as I said, I could definitely see why. However, I'm in the clear minority here, and I wanted to love this movie considering how refreshing it often is to see a Coen brothers film, but it didn't quite work for me. This is one of those films that I'll have to re-watch at one point in order to fully enjoy the experience.

Miller's Crossing has a plot similar to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, where the protagonist, in this case Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) is conflicted between two rival gangs, and he must play off of both sides. Miller's Crossing takes place during the 1930s, and tells the tale about a conflict between Irish boss Leo (Albert Finney) and Italian boss Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). Leo's right-hand man, Tom Reagan, has the same love interest as Leo, Verna Bernbaum (Marcia Harden). However, things get worse when Tom refuses to get rid of Bernie, who's a bookie (and Verna's brother) that Johnny has intentions to kill, and instead attempts to protect him. It's hard to explain the plot from there, because there are tons of unpredictable twists and double-crossings due to the fact that Tom is stuck between these two rival gangs. It's very ponderous and convoluted for such a simple story, and the plot was used far more effectively in Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and Kurosawa's Yojimbo. I must admit that from the very opening of the movie, I knew that this wouldn't quite be up to par with other Coen brothers classics, mainly due to the fact that everything felt and looked so drab and bland. I don't mean that by the style, because I've heard lots of people saying the style was used to great effect, even many saying that this is a style over substance film. It's certainly not the stylish production's fault, it's the characters' fault.

Some of the characters here were unfortunately less than compelling here, especially the protagonist. I felt like the protagonist was very boring and monotone, and it felt like he wasn't attached to anything- whether it was the love interest, the mob bosses, the money, or anything in general. He felt like an emotionless robot, and I honestly can't tell if he was acted well or not for that reason. In other adaptations of Yojimbo (and Yojimbo itself), the protagonist was compelling and exciting, such as the Man With No Name. He has a stoic personality, and he's mostly a man of few words, but whenever he talks, it's easy to tell that something amazing's about to happen. For Tom Reagan, however, I could barely hear (or care) about what he was saying. I wasn't too big of a fan about Tom's love interest, Verna, either. The two practically felt emotionless and drab, and that was a big shame (especially for Tom) because these are the people that you're supposed to be rooting for. A few of the other characters, including Johnny, Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman; Johnny's assistant), and Bernie were just as quirky and exciting as you'd expect from a Coen brothers film. There's plenty of dark humor, but I felt like this film didn't know if it wanted to be a riveting drama about the gangster era and morals, or if it wanted to be a darkly humorous gangster drama. The ending was apparently supposed to be really meaningful, supposedly symbolizing the change of moods and lifestyle of characters, but honestly, I felt no attachment to these characters to begin with, so in the end, I really didn't care about what was going to happen to them.

Don't get me wrong, however, because like all Coen brothers films, Miller's Crossing has moments of brilliance. There are darkly hilarious moments that were seriously hilarious, and I couldn't stop laughing watching them, or even thinking about them. There's one moment in particular involving Leo, a few hitmen, a mansion, and tommy guns, and I'd rather not spoil it, but it was brilliantly, morbidly hilarious. There's also another scene later in the movie involving Eddie Dane and Johnny Caspar, and that was macabre but hilarious (although I'm not sure if I was supposed to be laughing at that scene). The stylish production is great to look at and feel here, whether it's the cinematography, the brilliant soundtrack by the Coen brothers' frequent collaborator in music, Carter Burwell, or if its the portrayal of the gangster era. There's one location with a forest that looks breathtaking (and the scenes used along with the location are great as well), the music is beautiful, and the whole film is incredibly stylish. There are shots where a fedora is floating and sailing through the forest, and the suits, the guns, the set designs, and everything when it comes to the overall look of the film are very well-made. There are even cameos by Steve Buscemi, Sam Raimi, and Frances McDormand in very minor roles, and the signature style of the Coen brothers is obviously here, with cleverly written dialogue and great performances (when they needed to be, anyways), but I honestly couldn't get invested in the conflicts of the characters.

This is one of those films that I'll definitely have to re-watch at one point or another if I really want to get the full experience offered by this film. However, it honestly just felt overly-convoluted and drab for a plot like this, and I'm not going to call it overrated by any means, and I still admire this movie purely because effort was obviously put into getting down the feeling of the era. I honestly wish I liked this movie, because as I said, it has all the elements to be a groundbreaking Coen brothers film, but it didn't quite click for me. This is a hard film to review because I'm clearly in the minority here and it's quite hard to really pin down as to what I didn't love about this film, yet despite all the flaws I'm listing here, I can't rate this film as a bad or even mediocre movie. It's certainly a film that should be seen whether you're a fan of the gangster genre or the Coen brothers, because many will probably (and evidently, they have) adore this one more than me. It's most likely my least favorite Coen brothers film to date, but don't get me wrong, it certainly had its moments of brilliance and it had the style down, but I couldn't get myself invested into the characters nor the plot. Miller's Crossing is definitely an admirable effort that I can't hate, although I'm going to have to re-watch it if I really want to get hooked into the plot.