O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) review

(8/10)

This peculiar, Coen brothers take on Homer's "Odyssey" is a lot of southern fun.

PLOT:After breaking out of a jail line-up, Everett (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) head on a journey to find a foretold treasure in a valley that is about to be flooded. Of course, things aren't going to go all according to plan. They'll have to flee the law in every direction they head in, but they just might become celebrities along the way in this early 1900s, Mississippian film. It's a well-adapted plot executed quite uniquely.



ACTING:The acting was alright considering most of the characters were either uneducated or painfully cliched southern folk. The shiners were George Clooney as Everett, John Turturro as Pete, Tim Blake Nelson as Delmar, Charles Durning as Pappy O'Daniel, Ray McKinnon as Vernon T. Waldrip, and John Goodman as Big Dan Teague. I believe with out Clooney, this film wouldn't have been as good as it really was. Turturro did a pretty great job too. I particularly didn't care for Holly Hunter as Penny. This wasn't really a good role for her.

SCORE:This is also one of my favorite soundtracks. All of the music matches the time period that this was trying to recreate perfectly, plus some of the songs are either beautiful ("Down to the River to Pray") or toe-tappingly catchy ("I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow"). It's all of the same certain feel.

 

OTHER CONTENT:This film was fun and had clever twists, accurate history, and an interesting story overall to be told. The Coen Brothers always come up with great films, and this one is no less. The only flaws in this are that there isn't much of a true plot and there are times where this can get a little jumbled up/confusing for the viewer. It's not everyone's type of film, but it's good.

OVERALL,a great Coen brothers film with a uniquely executed plot, alright acting, good matching soundtrack, fun, clever twists, accurate history, and an interesting story, but there isn't too much of a plot, and things can get jumbled up sometimes.