The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs Review: 4 Ups & 4 Downs

Downs...

4. The Shorts Are Wildly Inconsistent

The most common complaint about anthology movies in general is that the shorts tend to be of an inconsistent quality, and despite the Coens writing the entire tableau of stories themselves, there's still a massive gulf of quality between the best and worst of them.

The film kicks off with two thrilling, hilarious shorts back-to-back - one featuring Tim Blake Nelson as the titular, demented gunslinger and the other James Franco as a rootin' tootin' cowboy - but the remaining four shorts sadly fail to match that level of energy or intrigue.

The third short, "Meal Ticket", sees Liam Neeson playing a travelling impresario, but it doesn't muster much interest and repeats itself far too often. The Tom Waits-starring fourth short, "All Gold Canyon", is another flat-line despite Waits' fun performance, and only the fifth short, "The Gal Who Got Rattled", really manages to perk up interest again.

The movie makes the mistake of starting strong, limping along for a while, getting good again in act three and then basically ending on a damp squib of a sixth short.

It's frustrating because if anyone should be capable of breaking from the pitfalls of the short anthology formula, it's the Coens.