It played out like one of his movies, very much so in parts. Yeah it was full of cliches and the ending wasn't much of a surprise. But the tone was perfect, Clooney was good in it...I'm surprised it had a big opening weekend though. As many of the posts here imply, I would have assumed that the largest reaction would've been "BORING!!!" I mean, my wife and I liked it, but the friends that saw it with us either thought it was waay too boring, or fell asleep during it. I thought it would be an art house hit, but a box office flop.