MovieChat Forums > O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2001) Discussion > dumb as a box* of hammers me - i just do...

dumb as a box* of hammers me - i just dont get coen bros flicks

posted 15 years ago by onleft23
30 replies | jump to latest

i know ... i know ... im a complete moron ...
but aint been one coen brothers movie ive ever seen
i thought deserved such - or much - acclaim as they
all seem to get

obwat no different either

tho i kinda am doing a 180 w/ lebowski but
only since i got clued in it's a play on bogart's big sleep
that did make a difference for me
and the whole 'dude' thing i did dig thruout

but as far as coen bros movies in general
i just dont see whwer/how they stand out
id like to think my iq is a wee bit north of
a box of hammers but maybe not ...

any other clues any others may offer ill willingly take
ive seen maybe 5-6 coen flicks
still waitin for one i leave the theatre liking

what am i missing?
t/y to anyone who can help

[–] smoko 15 years ago

Take two Lebowskis and call me in the morning.

[–] cregg 15 years ago

The phrase from the movie is "dumb as a BAG of hammers".

[–] CineNutty 12 years ago

Thank you for correcting that person. The idiom:

Originally, the proverbial bag of hammers was noisy (and by implication, unsubtle)...

They would come down on her with the celerity of a bag of hammers (1913)
(where celerity = speed, noise, lack of subtlety).

you should listen to yon engines of mine. They clatter like a bag of hammers (1923)

[–] c-chapman 15 years ago

Nice poem.

[–] onleft23 15 years ago

didnt mean to annoy my man
habit picked up trying to work within
youtube's 500 character constraint re comments

and i guess it's a 'bag' of hammers not box of 'em
so maybe i am that dumb

gave big leb another try - blockbuster rental
still cant make it pass goodman's character's
'stfu donny' s

i guess annoying is in the eye of the beholder huh?

'lots of strands in duder's head' is a funny line tho
and all coenbros flicks do 'look' very cool
i guess im just not cool enough to 'get' their 'cool' tho
but i mean no harm

signed the dumb as a box/bag of hammers poet(?)

[–] c-chapman 15 years ago

Hey, if you don't like the movie, you don't like the movie. I myself found it to be an amazing movie, but I'm not you, and you have your own opinion.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] calorioles 13 years ago

Nice marmat?

[–] Grimm-Grimm 15 years ago

It's hard to understand your typing. You look like your making a poem. Not sure if you are normally a poet stuck in poet writing mode or what. But it makes it difficult for us. No punctuation especially makes it more difficult and you get comments on it that derail your threads. Not trying to knock you for it. Just letting you know.

As far as I can understand, you are asking about the saying, "Dumb as a bag of hammers" because you don't understand it? Am I right? It obviously means the person is really dumb but how does it compare? The way I see it is that hammers don't have brains, they don't do anything except be used as a tool. Some people call people that too i.e. "He's such a tool." Some say, "he's dumber then a box of rocks." The person is so dumb that an inanimate object is more intelligent then that human being.

That's how I understand it. Some might argue that it also means a bag of hammers is dumb since you only need one hammer. So a bag of hummers would be dumb when you can carry a bag of mixed tools?

I did a search on google but got nothing but explanations saying it means dumb.

My Music
www.GrimmWebsite.com <-woof!
www.myspace.com/TheFutureLooksGrimm

[–] EdwardJohnLucas 13 years ago

Dumb is another word for dense. Hammers are dense. So dumber than a bag of hammers is simply a pun.

[–] ronnieronb 15 years ago

You didn't like "Raising Arizona"-my fave or "Fargo"? I have to agree I don't like all of them. So be it. You don't like them. Oh well.

bushtony and his mother suffer from Congential Stupidtiy and they didn't see it coming.

[–] onleft23 15 years ago

after thinking some about it i think now the coens
aim higher than just the 'surface story' i guess the more
you know about films and the making of them the more you enjoy
coen bros movies ... that's cool no biggy or blood spilt
it's only just a movie a way to pass some time

the ones ive seen have all certainly 'looked' impressive
but isnt that to the 'd-o-p''s credit?

i'll try to reexamine my own shortcomings film-interpretation-wise
i know once i learned big lebowski was based on bogie's (cant think
of the director just now) 'big sleep' i looked at it a different way
still cant say i liked it tho im a 'dudist' for sure
well man at least that's like my opinion man <grin>

plus any movie j turturro is in i will try to ck out
have dug that guy since 'to live & die in la' definitely
a helluva actor

and thanks for the civil reply with some your opinion differs from theirs
youre automatically an #$%^ or an ^&*(* or an #$%^& or an ...
well you get my drift

peace

[–] flour-girl 15 years ago

Dear onleft 22 558 11411, i disagree with your assessment of the Coens, but you had insightful comments into Southern Comfort, and I was impressed when you said that you read Annie Sullivan's autobio...and I yearn for Anne Bancroft...but Pulp Fiction was hilarious!

Hugs, Flour-Girl

Lady, the god YOU pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud.

[–] StarMerchant 15 years ago

re: "i just dont get coen bros flicks"

I've seen people praise Coen Brothers flicks, but I don't necessarily agree. It's not that they're not good or anything like that. The first time I saw "Fargo" I thought it was boring. That was before I knew it was done by the Coen Brothers. Not that knowing their involvement in the film would have a difference - I just didn't know about them and frankly, at the time, I didn't care one way or the other.

But I was very impressed with "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou", rating it one of the best movies of all time, in my opinion.

It wasn't until reading some of the comments in here that I got inquisitive about the Coen Brothers and their work. I have since seen "Fargo" a couple of times and watched it all the way through. My opinion has risen, although it still drags along.

Another film, "No Country For Old Men" also dragged along. It took me a couple of times to see that film all the way through. Tommy Lee Jones carried that movie.

So, in my opinion, Coen Brothers films just happen to hit a home run with "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?". Their other works struck out.

[–] garth8769 15 years ago

Worst movie of the decade?....A tie between this and the equally dreadful "What Women Want". If given a choice between watching them again or having my toenails ripped out I would have to think about which would be worse....

[–] zzzoeb 12 years ago

I would wish to contradict this view. 'O Brother Where Art Thou' was for me one of the most pretentious and over-the-top films ever made. Other than George Clooney,I think the rest of the cast was only a pack of caricatures. I liked the dialogues but even they sounded a bit too much- there was too much buffoonery trying to pass for some intelligent humor but for me it was all a big bag of baloney going over two hours and ending on such a predictable note.
The only thing i genuinely liked about it was the visuals. Roger Deakins, more than Coen Brothers or others, was the true hero of the film.
I have some nagging reservations about Coens. I felt they cheated me with this film. I watched Fargo, which was quite good but I did not love it the same way as I do other films from my favs like Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola or Tarantino or Woody Allen or some new guys like Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle.
The only film I personally loved from the Coens was 'No Country For Old Men'.

[–] strugz88 13 years ago

This is the ONLY co bros movie that I enjoyed. I have seen the big lebowski, fargo, no country for old men and a few others. This was the only one that truly felt like quality. I do not claim that the others were NOT quality, just was not to my liking.

[–] shananika 13 years ago

To each his/her own. A lot of people love the Coen Brother's films, but that doesn't mean everyone has to. One thing I love about their films is that they're all so different. Most directors films have a very similar feel, but not the Coen films. Their films also contain a lot of good writing and they always hire good actors. I haven't seen all of their films, and some of the ones I've seen I didn't really like...

I couldn't even get through Raising Arizona. Had to turn it off. I was a bit perplexed after watching Fargo for the first time. I really enjoyed all of the scenes with Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare, but couldn't say I enjoyed the film as a whole. I liked it a lot more the second time I saw it. I could take or leave The Big Lebowski. Like you, I found parts of it endearing, but didn't like the whole package enough to ever want to see it again. I've only seen O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ladykillers one time each, but I remember liking them and will probably get around to watching them again at some point. I absolutely loved both No Country for Old Men and True Grit. Burn After Reading was good, but I don't have any desire to watch it again. I hated Intolerable Cruelty. I've never seen Miller's Crossing, but I've heard it's great and Gabriel Byrne is one of my favorite actors. It's been sitting in my Netflix Queue for a while, but I keep putting other things in front of it so it hasn't made it to #1 yet.

Just because you don't really enjoy their films doesn't mean you're an idiot, even though some people on these boards will say you are. They're just not your cup of tea.