Furlough Film #4 The Man Who Wasn't There

The Man Who Wasn't There
(Every furlough day Dublin and Robert Fong get together to view a film and have a discussion about it. The following is a transcript of that discussion. SPOILERS abound.)

R: This is by the Cohen's? I've never seen it.
D: I have. I don't remember it though.
R: And Billy Bob's in it? I f__king love Billy Bob. Bad Santa?!
D: This is a lot different from Bad Santa.
R: Roll it!

(They watch the movie)

R: What the hell was that?
D: It was great.
R: It made no sense! What was the point? And what was with all the shots of the hair?
D: I loved it. I forgot how good this one was.
R: Good? Burn After Reading smoked this shit.
D: No way.
R: Oh Brother Where Art Thou smoked this shit.
D: Well, that's a classic. But this is up there with Oh Brother.
R: Are you f__king kidding me? You just like it because it's a noire or whatever. Even though it's not. It's just a rambling piece of shit.
D: I'll give you ten reasons why this movie is great.
R: Fine. Do it.
D: 10 reasons why it's one of the Cohen's best.
R: What the f__k? No way. Go.
D: Ah, 1) it's funny. It's funny as hell, in that super peculiar Cohen way. 2) Billy Bob is so understated.
R: Not like Bad Santa.
D: Exactly. The opposite of Bad Santa. 3) the scene where Billy Bob says "This hair. I'm gonna mix it with the dirt in the back." Hilarious. 4) The part in the car where Frances McDormand says "I hate whops" for no apparent reason. 5) the scene where the dry cleaning salesman makes a move on the Billy Bob character 6) the scene where-
R: You can't just name off scenes. That's f__king stupid.
D: A movie is combination of scenes. What the do you want?
R: This movie was boring. Super slow. The only parts I perked up on were when Scarlet Johanasen came out and talked in that sexy ass voice of hers.
D: Really?
R: I thought it was tight when James Gandolfini held Billy Bob up the the glass by his neck and the glass started to crack. That was a cool idea.
D: You can't deny the movie looked good though.
R: Black and white? You know a movie always wins points with me when it's black and white.
D: I remember you're post on Raging Bull (http://dublinsworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-fk-my-wife.html)
R: Exactly. But Raging Bull is a f__king classic. This wasn't nothing but a wasted two hours. And what's with the name? The Man that Wasn't There? What does that even mean?
D: He was invisible. No one saw him or noticed him or anything. He was doing all this foul shit and nobody took the time to notice because he just wasn't there. He just blended into the background.
R: Hmmmmm.
D: You know what, give it some time. I saw it years ago and I don't think I really liked it then either. But I really enjoyed it this time.
R: Hmmm.
D: You can pick the next one alright?
R: Damn right.

Taken from a transcription by Peggy Menchstone on 09/26/11