Review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) by Lane Z — 20 Nov 2014

The Coen brothers style of comedy is certainly an acquired taste. I tend to be somewhat frustrated with movies like this where it seems like no one is normal, everyone is either a complete moron or they are a cartoon-like stereotype. I think in O Brother this works better because it all has a mythological feel since they are trying to recreate stories from the Odyssey, but I still wish it was grounded in a reality instead of this stylized variation of the real world. The other issue with the way they recreate the myths is that the entire film feels episodic. It doesn't have a good flow from one scene to the next, because 2 back-to-back events are sometimes completely unrelated. Yet there are a fair share of these events that I find funny, and I did laugh out loud more than once at this movie even though I've seen it a couple of times.

While the story structure doesn't work for me there are two aspects of O Brother that I find delightful. First of all there is the music. It is a bit cheap when they make it so clear that the actors themselves are not singing, but I'm a big fan of this style of old-fashioned Southern music. I find myself humming the tunes for hours after watching the movie, and the way they integrate music into scenes that range from baptisms to Klan meetings is great. The singing isn't merely a tool used in the plot, but it sets the tone for many scenes perfectly. Most importantly there is the cast. Clooney can be a bit over-the-top with his character, but somehow he makes that work for humorous effect. John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson are great as his cohorts. They are simultaneously dumb as a bag of rocks, and lovable. My other favorite performance in the film is Charles Durning as the incumbent governor of Mississippi. His interactions with his advisers and the turn his campaign takes at the end are all played brilliantly. There's a lot to like in O Brother, Where Art Thou and frankly I'd be happy to watch it again for those aspects. However, since the story structure doesn't hold together as cohesively as I'd like it's not one that I'll seek out.