73
Metascore
33 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonLike all the Coens' movies, "Man" is supremely self-aware and darkly, hellishly funny. It's also brilliantly written and acted to a fare-thee-well by an outrageously good cast.
- 90The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensThe Coens have used the noir idiom to fashion a haunting, beautifully made movie that refers to nothing outside itself and that disperses like a vapor as soon as it's over.
- 90Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranYou could say a lot about the very satisfying The Man Who Wasn't There, but what's for sure is that no one but the deadpan, dead-on Coen brothers could have turned it out.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIsn't content to stick to the genre conventions it sets up. Instead, it sprawls and mutates into one of the Coens' elaborate gizmoid yarns.
- 80Washington PostStephen HunterWashington PostStephen HunterIt's the latest and one of the best entries in a genre whose highest philosophical expression is the whiplash realization that the universe doesn't play fair.
- 80VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyThe Coen brothers tread into James M. Cain territory with The Man Who Wasn't There, but with less tasty results than either Cain or the Coens themselves at their best.
- 63Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezAs a whole, it's a bit of a mess, the work of bratty geniuses with talent to spare, but unsure of what -- if anything -- they're trying to say.
- 50TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghIt's clever, in a "dare you to name this hommage" kind of way, but it's fundamentally heartless and coldly hollow.
- 40Film ThreatFilm ThreattThe resulting hodgepodge is a medley of the brothers’ favorite verbal and visual tics, making much noise and signifying nothing.
- 38Baltimore SunMichael SragowBaltimore SunMichael SragowIsn't serious enough to fulfill its ambitions, or funny enough to compensate for its failures.