an otherwise mundane world with the absurd. The film is essentially
Homer's "The Odyssey" with an assist from Preston Sturges' "Sullivan's
Travels". Or, to put it another way, it's a period piece road movie
about a trio of escaped convicts wandering around depression era
Mississippi.
The connection to "The Odyssey" is subtle and would have been missed by
most audience members, if the Coen's hadn't slammed in a pre-credit
announcement. Part of the entertainment aspects of the film is to pull
out the Odyssey references. The main character (George Clooney) plays
Ulysses Everett McGill and he is on a journey home of sorts to stop his
wife Penelope (Holly Hunter) from re-marrying. Along the way he meets
all manner of "monsters" and "sirens" and, in the end, he finds the
treasure that was prophesied to be his. Ulysses is an escaped convict
from a Mississippi chain gang. Since he couldn't get out alone, he was forced
to bring two of his fellow prisoners with him - Delmar (Time Blake Nelson)
and Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro). Together, the embark on a journey to
seek out Ulysses' 1.2 million in ill-gotten gain. Their path is littered
with unsavory characters and adventures.
O Brother is refreshing in that it is atypical to any movie currently
available in theaters. It offers musical numbers, car chases, shootouts,
magical realism, natural diasters and more Dapper Dan hair care products
than anyone could possibly want. The film has many standout sequences.
The best ones involve John Goodman as Big Dan, a one-eyed (can you say
Cyclops) Bible Salesman who can't stop talking. There's an encounter
with three sirens which results in an alarming transformation for Pete.
And the best is probably the Busby Berkeley like musical number with the
KKK cross burning.
As fun as O Brother can be, it has an overlong, dragged-out feel. In
essence, there's not enough support to fill the entire 105 minutes.
There is a minimal amount of character development. We learn a little
about Ulysses, but almost nothing about anyone else. However, we're
willing to stick with these three individuals because the actors are
doing a good job. Clooney slides directly into his role and Turturro and
Nelson are both effective foils. The supporting cast does exactly that,
it supports the tapestry of the film. The constant thematic element of
good old timey, Bluegrass music is also a great plus for sticking with
the film.
O Brother is an inarguably offbeat and moderatly entertaining film.
Review: 3 (out of 4) stars