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A Serious Man
- Review Date: September 29, 2009
- R
- Genre: Comedy
- 2009
Common Sense Media says
Brilliant but bleak comedy for mature Coen brothers fans.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that the Coen brothers' A Serious Man features extensive useof marijuana (in some cases by pre-teen boys) and lots of profanity (from "f--k" and "s--t" on down the line). There's some sexual material as well (a distant view of a topless sunbather, a dream-sequence sex scene), and some brief but bloody moments of violence. The movie also offers viewers complex questions to ponder on the subjects of faith and religion.
What's the story?
In 1967 Minnesota, husband/father/physics professor Larry Gopnick (Michael Stuhlbarg) is dealing with a series of calamities -- his wife wants a divorce, his children are indifferent, a student is trying to bribe him for a better grade, and he's waiting to hear whether he'll receive academic tenure. As Larry tries to deal with these problems (and his son prepares for his bar mitzvah while dodging the pot dealer he owes money to), all the characters ask: What does God want from me? And what does he want for me?
Is it any good?
A SERIOUS MAN seems designed to baffle -- it's a particularly thin slice-of-life look that peers at a '60s Midwestern Jewish family as if through a microscope -- but it actually lingers long after its small, sly jokes and plot complications finish. Ethan and Joel Coen have always been interested in morality as a theme, and A Serious Man is no exception, with Larry (played by stage actor Stuhlbarg in an excellent performance) dealing with the large and small indignities of life while looking to religion for answers, even though he fails to find them.
Don't go to A Serious Man expecting the big laughs and quotable lines of, say, The Big Lebowski; this movie is, while funny, a much more serious work. The cinematography by longtime Coen collaborator Roger Deakins is superb, and the entire cast does excellent work. A Serious Man may look like a finely observed, small-scale work, but the questions it asks will linger with you long after its haunting final image.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the film's central question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Do our actions have consequences?
The film also offers great opportunities for discussion of the natureof religious belief. What questions does the movie raise about faith? Does it provide any answers?
What does this movie have in common thematically with the Coen brothers' other movies? What do their films say about the importance of morality and ethics in a world that seems to respect neither?
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AGE
Great for mature teenagers, but only if their parents can deal with the likely discussions that result
Not for young children, primarily because they would not understand the serious themes dealt with. Great for mature teenagers who are beginning to question life's mysteries and issues of faith and morality. A good way to open up pithy family discussions, but only if both parents and teens are up to the challenge.
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AGE
adults only, kids would rather twitter or text than watch this movie
Waste of time due to disjointed story lines
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AGE
inspirational
a great storyline very inspirational movie its great!!!
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AGE
This Minnesotan is a serious man.
This film is the story of Job. And it teaches that life may be hard, but you will get back on your feet. Its very VERY VERY dark, but its hilarious. A dark comedy is meant to humor and make you laugh when a act of evil is done. Which this film does greatly. 4.59/5 Stars.
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AGE
A good black comedy, but most kid's wont enjoy it
This is a very bleak, obscure comedy by the Coen Brothers, most notable for making movies like "Fargo" "The Big Lebowski" and "Burn After Reading." People need to know that compared to those films, the humour in this movie is not obvious and very very dry and obscure. It's deep and complex, with lots of themes including Judaism, anti-Semitics, drug use, divorce, death, terminal illness, child pornography etc.
The film is set in the 1960s and it is based around the life of a highschool teacher who is cursed with bad luck. Everything is bad in his life, and some people might find this boring, but if you look deeper into the whole thing, there is lots of very funny humour.
With his wife wanting a divorce, his son's bar mitzvah coming up and a korean student conning him into giving him a good exam mark, he is very stressed and consults three different rabbis, trying to find out the meaning of his life.
Some of it can be boring and bleak, but I found most of it was very subtle and very funny. The ending may be frustrating to some, but I really enjoyed this film and thought it was classic Coen Brother's style. You actually feel very sorry for the main character and what he's going through.
There is some swearing including f***, among others, some sexual references including a fantasy sex scene where a woman is thrusting on top of him (brief and nothing shown), a man is accused of sodomy and child abuse, people are shown smoking marijuana and getting high (comedic), and there is some violence including a man being shot in the neck (from a distance.)
All in all, I really enjoyed A Serious Man, but I think you have to have an acquired taste to really embrace the feel and mood of the comedy, and the subtlety of it. :)
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AGE
A Serious Man is a deep, complex, and very mature black comedy. It explores many mature, personal themes while keeping a great pace, and raising a lot of interesting questions on life, its consequences, and its uncertainty. The cinematography is perfect, the acting is all around superb, and even though its a very simple movie in context, its morality, and the questions that arise throughout the movie, stay with you long after the film's final disturbing, and psychologically haunting image.
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AGE
This movie is funny but for some reason i freaking loved it. This movie has it confusing parts but there most likey dreams.
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AGE
Seriously confusing
"A Serious Man" was not unlike the Coen brothers movies I've seen, "True Grit," "NCFOM," etc. But this film took a lot more deciphering to do then any of those. It's a small, complicated little film about why things happen to us, and when we'll receive answers. It's well acted, and is worth a rental.
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| Studio: | Focus Features |
| Directors: | Ethan Coen, Joel Coen |
| Cast: | Adam Arkin, Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 105 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | October 2, 2009 |
| DVD release date: | February 10, 2010 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence |
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