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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Touchstone
Salesrank: 641
Released: June 12, 2001 |
| Our Price: $5.38 |
| Used Price: $3.93 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Disenchanted with the daily drudge of crushing rocks on a prison farm in Mississippi, the dapper, silver-tongued Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney, THE PERFECT STORM) busts loose. Except he's still shackled to his own chain-mates from the chain gang -- bad-tempered Pete (John Turturro, SUMMER OF SAM), and sweet, dimwitted Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson, HAMLET). With nothing to lose and buried loot to regain -- before it's lost forever in a flood -- the three embark on the adventure of a lifetime in this hilarious offbeat road picture. Populated with strange characters, including a blind prophet, sexy sirens, and a one-eyed Bible salesman (John Goodman, COYOTE UGLY), it's an odyssey filled with chases, close calls, near misses, and betrayal that will leave you laughing at every outrageous and surprising twist and turn.
Description of O Brother, Where Art Thou?:
Only Joel and Ethan Coen, the fraternal director and producer team behind art-house hits such as The Big Lebowski and Fargo and masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would dare nick the plot line of Homer's Odyssey for a comic picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s Mississippi. Our wandering hero in this case is one Ulysses Everett McGill, a slick-tongued wise guy with a thing about hair pomade (George Clooney, blithely sending up his own dapper image) who talks his chain-gang buddies (Coen-movie regular John Turturro and newcomer Tim Blake Nelson) into lighting out after some buried loot he claims to know of. En route they come up against a prophetic blind man on a railroad truck, a burly, one-eyed baddie (the ever-magnificent John Goodman), a trio of sexy singing ladies, a blues guitarist who's sold his soul to the devil, a brace of crooked politicos on the stump, a manic-depressive bank robber, and--well, you get the idea. Into this, their most relaxed film yet, the Coens have tossed a beguiling ragbag of inconsequential situations, a wealth of looping, left-field dialogue, and a whole stash of gags both verbal and visual. O Brother (the title's lifted from Preston Sturges's classic 1941 comedy Sullivan's Travels) is furthermore graced with glowing, burnished photography from Roger Deakins and a masterly soundtrack from T-Bone Burnett that pays loving homage to American '30s folk styles--blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz, and more. And just to prove that the brothers haven't lost their knack for bad-taste humor, we get a Ku Klux Klan rally choreographed like a cross between a Nuremberg rally and a Busby Berkeley musical. --Philip Kemp
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Reviews:
Amazing movie 
2009-10-30 - Great story telling, imaginative, witty, clever, one of my favorite movies of all time. A steal for $9
Entertaining Caricatures of Jim Crow South 
2009-10-26 - Three escaped convicts in circa 1940 Mississippi go through assorted adventures before finally gaining their freedom. Entertaining caricature of Jim Crow-era South, presenting some of the colorful (and sordid) characteristics of life at that time. Some of the characterizations are over the top, but overall an amusing portrayal--Clooney almost steals the show. Occasional profanity and violence.
My Favorite Movie of All Time
2009-10-20 - The first time I saw this movie, I actually thought it was quite ridiculous. I think it was because the humor was so dry.
I caught it on tv again one day which started my love affair with this film. I have probably seen it at least 100 times, if not more, and it gets funnier every time I see it.
My only problems with it are: 1.the Woolsworth scene is terribly edited and 2. the last scene has the McGill family missing a kid. If you count their daughters going over the train track- there's one missing?
My love for this film is that there is a quote for every issue in life:
When you wake up..."oh, my hair"; when you find yourself in trouble... "we're in a tight spot", having people problems..."only a fool seeks logic in the chambers of the human heart"; let someone down..."God forgive me"; how old you'll be in 50 years..."well, I'll only be 82"; come to spiritual knowledge..."come on in boys, the waters fine"; hostile towards cattle..."one thing I hate more than coppers is cows"; finished with an argument..."I've counted to three"; warn friends of impending danger..."do not seek the treasure"; and so on, and so on.
The majority of my every day language comes from the lines in this movie and I find that is all the language I need.
Boring, plotless, boringest! 
2009-09-25 - "O Brother Where Art Thou or Adapted Classic Literature with Uninteresting Rednecks."
I gave it a shot for 45 minutes when it was on HBO. I got thoroughly bored and uninterested. Sorry, nothing more to say, as I remember nothing but the twiddling of my thumbs and looking at my watch.
Homer's Odyssey for Dummies 
2009-09-22 - This should be required viewing in schools. Maybe it would get kids interested in classic literature. The lesson plan could include watching "O Brother, Where Art Thou" and then reading the Odyssey. Kids could look for similarities, departures, etc.
Not everyone will love this film, but that's not the film's fault. It's just different than 99 percent of what shows up in theaters. To me, the best part of this film is the music (2001 Grammy for Album of the Year). In fact, I'd be happy to simply listen to the soundtrack every day. I can tolerate Clooney's character even though it's over the top; this is a folk story after all. Too bad he was the only one who didn't (couldn't?) sing.
This film screams out for a multi-voice commentary. This was the first and so far only DVD release. Perhaps they are waiting for a 10th Anniversary Edition next year?
3.5 stars, rounded down until they come out with a more full-featured DVD.
