After a hard weekend of working, my hubby and I cooked dinner and sat down to relax and watch NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I didn't expect to like this movie, but I was quickly enthralled. Twenty or so minutes before the movie ended, that enthrallment turned to disgust, anger and disappointment.

If you haven't seen the movie but want to, please stop reading. This is a spoiler.

The writers got lazy or something. Here's a tip on what not to do when writing. Don't make almost the entire movie about one particular person and the events of his life. Everything is okay and then the sheriff comes on scene and the guy is dead. DEAD! We don't see his POV, we don't see what happened. Suddenly, he's dead. Later, the same thing happens to his wife. We're pretty sure it's going to happen and she's going go die. At least we see her POV for a brief moment. Then, the killer is walking out the door, which leads us to believe she is dead.

It cuts to the sheriff. Now I'm already zoning out at this time. I'm already pretty upset. How many authors pour blood sweat and tears into their manuscripts and do everything they should do, yet still get rejected? And this movie won Oscars!!!! They skipped the most important events and just made us piece it together ourselves. Unbelievable!

Some writers think that not tidying up their story at the end will make it special. It doesn't. It makes it disappointing!!!!!

They could have done so much more with this movie. It had such potential. Yes, it was about the sheriff and the villain, but it was also about the character who found the money...Llewelyn. It's like the writers, directors and producers (the highly acclaimed Coen brothers!) thought we--the viewers--weren't important enough that we would care what happened to Llewelyn. I expected him to die. Yes, I like happy endings and get upset when it's not a happy ending, but I don't expect happy endings in the movies I watch (especially now, because it seems like there are less happy endings in movies these days). This movie made me feel cheated because it skipped over the most important events. All of a sudden, the character we have grown close to is dead. We walk up upon him and he is dead. We have been involved in his life but weren't involved in this part. It's like the writers didn't know what to do. So hey, let's kill him, show the guys getting away in a pickup truck, and then the sheriff pulls up and finds him dead.

Sigh.

If you want to know how best to make a viewer (or reader) feel cheated, watch NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.