| O Brother, Where Art Thou? |
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| Rating: Good Distributor: Touchstone Pictures MPAA Rating: PG-13 Genre: Comedy, Adventure Running Length: 1 hour, 46 minutes Release Date: December 22nd 2000 (limited), January 12th, 2001 (wide). Director: Joel Coen Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Charles Durning, Michael Badalucco, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Chris Thomas King, and Mia Tate. |
| Plot: Three escaped convicts, Ulysses (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) are on a journey to find Ulysses' stashed away treasure from bank robberies. Along the way they meet many weird folks, and find surprising success after they record a song as the "Soggey Bottom Boys". Also, Ulysses deperately wants to rekindle his relationship with his wife who left him after he was arrested, and began a relationship with a more stable character. During their journey Ulysses is the leader, Pete is the energetic, if rebellious second in command, and Delmar is the incredibally stupid comic relief. |
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| picture above from www.studio.go.com/movies/obrother |
| Critique: The newest Coen brothers film is a whimsical, folksy, often artful little adventure. It is usually funny, always off beat, and sporadically powerful. Although it suffers from stretches of aimlessness, it always recovers. It is a film that works in fits and starts, but is successsful because of the effort that was put into it, and the smart, if mild screenplay. The music and cinemotragraphy are somewhat pretentious, but solid. George Clooney is not always funny, but Tim Blake Nelson (who plays the idiot) is consistently funny. Although O Brother, Where Art Thou? is not by any means a great film, it is a nice, enjoyable one. 'O Brother', starts off slow, but picks up steam as it hits a really fantastic climax, containing a series off unusual events. Every action the actors pull is charismatic, and naturalistic. Every joke does not hit the money, but the majority due in the oddly witty, often subtle dialogue. It comes across as a dreamlike adventure that meanders through yellow-orange fields, baked sand and lush green stalks. O Brother never feels forced, and walks at a nonchalant pace. The direction is pretty good, and the mood is impressive. In conclusion, 'O Brother,' is a incredibally odd, but very recommendable adventure that succeeds in all its eccentricities. It has its flaws, including feelings of aimlessness, and a herky jerky, but usually nonchalant pace. Even when you could swear the film is trying to hard, you are reminded to sit back and have a good time. review by supernothingman |