"True Grit" solidified the Coen Brothers' place near the top of my favorite screenwriters list. They have mastered the slyly funny quip and the back-and-forth in this film almost seemed like the Brothers were trying to beat Aaron Sorkin at his own game.

But while the dialogue was great and the performances were strong, I kind of agree with the people who question why exactly the Coen Brothers decided to remake this book/movie. There's not really much there. It's a fairly basic revenge story, with the twist being that the bloodthirsty party is a 14 year old girl. The film kind of felt like Something ventured, Nothing gained. If I hadn't have known better, I would have thought that this film was, fittingly, a hired gun film for the Coens; the kind of film that they do for a studio so that they could then do whatever picture they wanted. But apparently this was there idea. Off the top of my head, it's the most mainstream, straightforward movie they've ever made.

In the end, while I enjoyed the film, I didn't find there to be that much to love and would recommend just waiting for it to come out on DVD. With so much Oscar bait out there, I'd recommend checking out 127 Hours in the theaters, renting Winter's Bone, or catching Exit Through the Gift Shop on Netflix instant.