A Serious Man
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
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Plot Summary
Academy Award®-winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen return to their comedy roots with this original and darkly humorous story about one ordinary man’s quest to become a serious man. Physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) can’t believe his life: His wife is leaving him for his best friend, his unemployed brother won’t move off the couch, someone is threatening his career, his kids are a mystery and his neighbor is tormenting him by sunbathing nude. Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family, delinquent behavior and mortality in the film critics rave is “seriously awesome!” (Michael Hogan, Vanity Fair)
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Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
89%- Reviews Counted: 202
- Fresh: 180
- Rotten: 22
- Average Rating: 7.9/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: If you're puzzled by the Coen Brothers' horrific comedies, this is the closest thing you'll get to an explanation.
Fresh: The Coens may play around with that tradition, they may disparage it or mock it. But they are irrevocably a part of it, and that's all to the good.
Fresh: Joel and Ethan Coen love to play God; they put their characters through hell, torturing them endlessly and treating them with disdain before finally giving them peace (usually through death, madness or some form of imprisonment).
Fresh: The talent of the Coens is such that they make this film eminently watchable, absolutely enjoyable and utterly engaging despite the fact that it's never entirely clear why we're seeing it in the first place.
Customer Reviews
If you're a fan of the Coen brothers' films...
...then I can pretty much guarantee you will enjoy this film. It is thoroughly original. The acting is excellent - better than 80% of acting in the common Hollywood blockbuster. But most significant, in my opinion, is the difficulty I've had in trying to identify a movie with a better script and better directing. Put simply, the Coens have created a great piece of literature on film.
If you're not a Coen brothers fan and you prefer a feel-good date movie starring Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts, or an action movie with The Rock, you may want to steer clear. But if you're willing to keep an open mind, you're willing to contemplate a film's meaning after its ending, and you are interested in filmmaking at its best, you may want to rent this. You may even find yourself wanting to watch this movie more than once.
Comedy?
Extremely depressing. Dark humor? No humor. Wish I could get a refund. Kept watching and thinking that there would be a pay-off at the end. There wasn't. Save your money and skip this one.
Another Coen Hit
Amazing movie. It comes in with a bang, and ends with a bigger one in true Coen style. You will not be dissapointed after watching this movie...that is if you actually like good movies.
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Also Available
- A Serious Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- Various Artists
