Okay, let me qualify the sponge rating. If you’re not too terribly hung up on the Coen brothers, you could conceivably consider it six instead of five sponges. It is a good movie, but I’m just thinking that many connoisseurs out there may be demanding more from the Coen brothers. This is not necessarily a film that I would really want to evangelize to people, but it’s a good movie, especially to see with friends. Granted, it’s already been done as a movie (Alec Guinness, anyone? Peter Sellers?), but the Coens do put their own spin on it.

The basic story is that a con man (Hanks) uses his rented room in a sweet old lady’s (Hall) house as an excuse to assemble his band of robbers in order to use the root cellar to tunnel their way into a vault. It’s a good ensemble piece, and Hanks and Hall get enough face time. The Coens use their trademark linguistic and musical explorations as nice window-dressing. This time around, it’s Hank’s Southern drawl and over-the-top vocabulary and Hall’s gospel music. And you get to have a nice unraveling as the story concludes.

Hanks doesn’t burn up the screen, but he does plays a silly character. Let’s face it, anyone who first thinks Bosom Buddies instead of Saving Private Ryan when they hear Tom Hanks’ name is going to feel he’s right in place here. The Coens tend to create worlds where the characters go about doing their things with a ferocity of purpose, but who nonetheless make it seem the most natural thing in the world. These people don’t get riled up to do what they were going to do, but they certainly don’t notice when things get in their way.

Look, this is just a fun movie to watch. You’re not going to consider yourself a more fully-fledged member of Western Civilization if you see this movie, but that’s why I’m writing these movies from this perspective anyway. Silly lines? Check. Uncomfortable dismemberment? Check. Awkward caught-in-the-act moment? Check. Implausable mayhem? Check. Story closure provided by a cat? Check and check. So, this is a good movie for a Coen brothers movie, let alone a regular Hollywood creation. Not their best, but good.