ViewGuide

Created Feb 18, 2017 12:28PM PST • Edited Feb 18, 2017 02:07PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   O Brother, Where Art Thou? looks stupid but is actually brilliant and brilliantly funny. Classic Coen Brothers is also what it is, a movie only their fertile minds and clever craft could conceive and consummate. For instance, George Clooney’s escaped con clambers aboard a box car and begins his patter to a bunch of hobos riding the rails. We know he’s chained to two compatriots running alongside the train, so see the joke coming, making it all the funnier when he gets yanked out of the car feet-first.

   The title stems from Sullivan’s Travels in 1941. The director in Preston Sturges’ brilliant Hollywood spoof didn’t want to make another meaningless comedy, dreaming instead of a serious picture titled O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Coen Brothers followed through decades later, making a comedy with a kick.

   The kick comes from spoofing the Jim Crow South. It’s done in such high style that it adds to the comedy. To wit, a wacky takeover of a KKK rally recalls the TinMan and Scarecrow marching with the Wicked Witch’s soldiers in the Wizard of Oz. The Coen Brothers, like Tarantino, steal from the best.

   Speaking of stealing from the best, the story is a loose retelling of Homer’s Odyssey. Further, the iconic music is drawn from country and bluegrass classics, performed by legendary musicians like Earl Stanley and Emmylou Harris. In short, O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a treasured treat from the Brothers Coen.

   It’s worth revisiting on a regular basis and that’s no joke. “Care for some gopher?”

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   George Clooney carries the movie, though surrounded by a tremendously impressive cast. Playing a dapper drifter down on his luck is perfect for gorgeous George, who is best when he can be ironic about his outrageous good looks. His Ulysses Everett McGill corresponds to Odysseus (Ulysses) in the Odyssey.

   Running Mates

   • John Turturro delivers perhaps the most surprising performance, since he typically plays a city guy, yet here plays a country rube. There is simply no better character actor than Turturro, and he proves that in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
   • Tim Blake Nelson long acting career arguably peaked with O Brother, Where Art Thou?, where he played that dumbest of the three escaped cons.

   Others

   • Chris Thomas King plays a character based on Robert Johnson, giving the movie its racial spine.
   • Frank Collison is even more rube-like than Tim Blake Nelson.
   • John Goodman corresponds to the cyclops Polyphemus in the Odyssey. He also corresponds to another in a long line of great Goodman roles in Coen Brothers films.
   • Holly Hunter is somewhat unimpressive to my eye and I like Holly Hunter! Anyway, she corresponds to Penelope in the Odyssey.
   • Charles Durning was a master of slimy-bigwig roles, here as the incumbent Governor of Mississippi. Apparently his character was based on Texas governor W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel, per Wikipedia. He corresponds to Menelaus in the Odyssey.
   • Daniel von Bargen as the sheriff who pursues the trio of escaped cons, a classic role for this well-traveled character actor.
   • Wayne Duvall as the reform candidate for Governor who is hiding a dark secret.
   • Ray McKinnon as the suitor of Clooney’s ex-wife: He corresponds to the Suitors of Penelope in the Odyssey.
   • Michael Badalucco as Baby Face Nelson, a classic role for this well-traveled character actor.
   • Stephen Root as the blind radio station manager who records Everett’s story in the song Man of Constant Sorrow: He corresponds to Homer.
   • Lee Weaver as the Blind Seer corresponds to Tiresias in the Odyssey.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Joel & Ethan Coen are such prolific filmmakers that it’s hard to place O Brother, Where Art Thou? in their consistently terrific oeuvre. That said, O Brother, Where Art Thou? has all their hallmarks. It is darkly funny, strikingly original, exceedingly well crafted, referential and it satires serious subjects.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow
    O Death
    In the Jailhouse Now

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    8 stunts

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

17. Sex Innocent 1.3

18. Violence Fierce 2.5

19. Rudeness Salty 2.3

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.3

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Surreal 3.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0