Reviews
Hollywood Reporter - A seriously funny film about an angst-ridden Jewish professor seeking the answers to life's questions and getting a metaphysical pie in the face, Empire - Admirably low-key, deeply compelling and their warmest movie since FARGO., New York Times - A SERIOUS MAN, like its biblical source, a distilled, hyperbolic account of the human condition. The punch line is a little different, but you know the joke. And itÆs on you, of cours, USA Today - A wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film., Los Angeles Times - [The Coens have made] their most personal, most intensely Jewish film, a pitch-perfect comedy of despair that, against some odds, turns out to be one of their most universal as well, The Guardian - The Coen brothers may just have made their masterpiece with this, their 14th feature and yet another hairpin-bend change of direction, which has been their trademark for their entire careerq, Time Magazine - To absorb God's body blows, this disquieting, haunting movie says, is to be fully alive. To do otherwise could kill you, Rolling Stone - This seriously funny movie, artfully photographed by the great Roger Deakins, is spiritual in nature, barbed in tone, and, oh, yeah, it stings like hell., The Los Angeles Times - Writer-directors Joel and Ethan have seized the opportunity afforded by the Oscar-winning success of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN to make their most personal, most intensely Jewish film, a pitch-perfect comedy of despair that, against some odds, turns out to be one of their most universal as well., Boston Globe - ItÆs a work of cruel comic genius, in some ways even crueller than NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN., Variety - A SERIOUS MAN is the kind of picture you get to make after you've won an Oscar
Additional Information
As if the failure of his long-time marriage wasn't enough for Larry Gopnik (Tony-nominated Michael Stuhlbarg) to contend with, now his socially inept brother refuses to move out of the house as well. Larry is a modest man of science. Up to this point, his life has been uneventful at best, but things are about to get interesting. Informed by his wife, Judith, that she is leaving him to move in with his pompous colleague Sy Ableman, Larry does his best to contend with his failed marriage while doing his best to tolerate his unemployable brother, Arthur, who appears to have grown roots on Larry's couch. Meanwhile, Larry's son, Danny, is displaying a serious discipline problem at Hebrew school, and his daughter, Sarah, is stealthily snatching money from his wallet in hopes of saving up for a nose job. As Judith and Sy merrily begin making plans for their new life of domestic bliss together, Larry begins receiving a series of anonymous letters from a mysterious figure who seems intent on sabotaging his chance for tenure at the university. To complicate matters even further, a graduate student with failing grades is attempting to bribe the professor while simultaneously threatening to sue him for defamation. Larry is in some serious need of equilibrium, though it's hard to focus on getting your life in order when your beautiful neighbour insists on sunbathing in the nude just outside your window. Perhaps by seeking the advice of three trusted rabbis, Larry can finally learn to cope with his afflictions and finally become a genuine mensch.
