Check Out the Trailer

I’ll start my review of the Coen brothers new film with a quote from the beginning of Todd McCarthy’s review, “A SERIOUS MAN is the kind of picture you get to make after you’ve won an Oscar.” Boy is that true, and thank God they won an Oscar, because now we are treated to this dark, hilarious comedy that brings the story of Job to the 1960s.

Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg, THE GREY ZONE) is a physics professor who nervously awaits the word on his tenure. But that’s the least of his problems. His wife Judith (Sari Lennick) abruptly tells him that she’s leaving him for the widower Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS), the kind of overly appeasing and zen-like man that makes you want to punch him. Larry’s no-good brother Arthur (Richard Kind, TV’s MAD ABOUT YOU) is sleeping on his couch with no prospects for leaving. His son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is trying to get away with dozens of things behind his back. Getting his radio confiscated at Hebrew school creates a spiraling amount of problems for the pot-smoking teen. His daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) spends all her time washing her hair and complaining. Then one of his students Clive Park (David Kang) tries to bribe him. And when that doesn’t work, he tries to charge him with defamation of character for insinuating that he tried to bribe him.

As the film moves along, more and more burdens pile on his shoulders and all he wonders is why me? To try to find answers he goes to a series of rabbis with diminishing results. The junior rabbi Scott (Simon Helberg, WALK HARD) tells him seemingly pointless metaphor regarding the synagogue parking lot that takes on far more meaning as Larry thinks about it… especially under the influence of marijuana. In a various humorous and thought-provoking ways, the trials of poor Larry Gopnik tackle big issues. If I haven’t done anything why are bad things happening to me? What does God want from us? What is the purpose of life? Does anybody really have the answer to these questions?

The opening unconnected Yiddish prologue serves as the whole film’s themes in short. A husband (Allen Lewis Rickman, I WAS A TEENAGE ZOMBIE) comes home and says an old rabbi helped him along the road. His wife (Yelena Shmulenson, THE GOOD SHEPHERD) is aghast; that rabbi died. The husband is aghast; he invited the rabbi over for soup. When the man arrives is he a kind, laughing rabbi or a dybbuk? The answer to the question depends on whose perspective you take — the wife or the husband.

Ethan and Joel Coen have put together a cast of mainly fresh faces. Stuhlbarg, who looks like Joaquin Phoenix or Robin Williams depending on how you look at him, plays Larry as an unassuming man, who been living his life honest, but not extraordinary. All the bad things that happen to him, he takes in stride, but what will be his breaking point? We connect to him because he’s like all of us, wondering why life seems like the tale of Sisyphus from time to time. It’s a remarkable performance in its subtly and deft comic timing. He’s supported very well by the other players and their eccentric characters. Others to note include George Wyner (SPACE BALLS) as Rabbi Nachtner and his tale of the dentist and the goy’s teeth; Alan Mandell (SHORTBUS) as the ancient Rabbi Marshak, who has a unique way of telling teens what to expect from life; and Amy Landecker (DAN IN REAL LIFE) as Larry’s sexy, hip next-door neighbor Mrs. Samsky.

A SERIOUS MAN must be a personal project for the Coens, who wrote the original screenplay. It feels informed by life, but filtered through a darkly comic lens. It isn’t afraid to be what it is — a tale of Jews living in the Midwest during the 1960s. Some will complain that the film exploits Jewish stereotypes, but that would neglect all the deeper meanings that Jewish traditions bring to the film. As did their Oscar-winning thriller NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the ending will have many scratching their heads when leaving. But their heads will also be filled with brilliant scene after brilliant scene, laugh out loud moments and a whole lot to think about. Be good to yourself and go see this film, you’ll feel better about yourself for it. Your life probably ain’t as bad as Larry Gopnik.