Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

[Frayed Knot]

A not very pleasant folk singer in early '60s Greenwich Village roams the coffee shops and record offices looking for ways to jump-start his career, but instead manages to be more successful in annoying and mooching off people along the way.

[Guest sharpie]

I was really looking forward to this movie and saw it on Christmas. It was okay, but I was ultimately disappointed. Wasn't funny enough to be a comedy, not involving enough as a drama. Some good music.

[Guest themetfairy]

I agree with sharpie. It was boring and self-important, and didn't work as either a comedy or a drama.

If D-Dad posted here, he'd have a much stronger opinion; he really hated the film.

[Frayed Knot]

I, on the other hand, kind of liked it.
Not much of a plot to be sure (the Coens even said that they threw in the cat just to offer at least the hint of one) but I enjoyed the little slice of life about a sad sack guy trying hard to make it in a tough business only to find that not only is everything going wrong for him over the few day period of the movie but that it's all about to get a whole lot tougher.

Apparently some of the folkies still around from that era were disappointed that the movie was too much of a downer and didn't depict enough of the positive spirit of the times, and also that the main character was about as un-Van Ronkian as one can get despite his memoir being the germ for the movie.