Rating: 
Summary: The Coens are the best thing going for American movies
Review: O brother where art thou , what can I say , could this be a sign that mainstream America is starting to grasp onto the ideals of European film making. The Coens have surpassed themselves with this film , though Fargo and Blood Simple are both excellent.The Coens have grasped the fact that what makes movies great and will make them be remembered in the future is not special efects and CGI but good old fashioned storytelling and great dialogue .Ok they claim to have gotten inspiration from Homers Odyssey and who am I to disagree , not being a Greek scholar? But what they have created is believable characters that you truely feel for even knowing they are criminals and that by the end of the film they are the ones you are rooting for, how rare is that in modern Hollywood. The Coens still seem determined to make movies that push the boundries of what is classed as mainstream Hollywood. George Clooney does more in this movie to redeem himself from Batman and Robin than I have known any actor to have ever done before , plus I love his homage to James Stewart. A stunningly clever rediscovery and use of old American music makes this movie a must in the top ten films ever made
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Summary: The best of the Coen brothers movies.
Review: Subtle and not so subtle metaphor of a movie. Very interesting and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Is five stars all I can give it? Add 5 more to that
Review: What can I say. The title of this here review says it all really.
But you'll have to watch it twice to fully understand it. There are some parts that you need to pay close attention to. You need to get thesoundtrack for it as well. There's some really good 'old time religious' music on there. as well as "I am a man of constant sorrow". Which, by the way, I am listening to now.
Rating:
Summary: Outrageously great.
Review: As comedies go, this one is difficult to explain. George Nelson, while setting a record for the number of banks robbed in two hours, happens to shoot a herd of cows. The last cow in the movie must represent the idea that the death penalty would be entirely appropriate in that case, and George Nelson is last seen agreeing, but I shouldn't be giving so much away. The easiest part of this movie to understand is the idea that the main characters could record a hit record. Life is imitating art on a large scale when the soundtrack itself is a best seller. Having a hit record becomes so much more important than anything else in the movie, the comedy might seem insignificant. This is too funny to seem like real history, but it is the perfect commentary on old time anything that might be related to hard times in Mississippi.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh brother what is this?
Review: The Coens, those quiet smirkers at the back of the classroom, have done it again, rolling out their latest underwhelming flea market display of teen-caliber visual ironies, and as usual, it's stylish, flat and dead. OBWAT continues in the dual Coen tradition of imaginative visuals and idea-free storylines. It's loose amalgam of Busby Berkeley, Preston Sturges, and deep South cliches haplessly thrown over Homer's Ulysses, with no particular point. Their only mental stunt is to mask their idealessness with irony, a cheap, tired switch that not even the actors buy this time--John Turturro, for example, can't help turning in his first truly awful performance. The actors are forced to mug their way through their parts, and it's no fun to watch them do it. The Coens aren't going to wear well. Jeff Bridges was onto them in the Big Lebowski, a virtual confession by the Coens that they had nothing to say, and at least he charmed his way through by refusing to try. Their last movie to create any kind of visceral charge was their first, Blood Simple, which they took seriously and gave their actors the chance to do the same. Since then, they've set up camp in we-know-that-you-know-that-we-know irony, scoring an occasional wry jab, but in the end, there's nothing there--nothing sexy, thrilling, endearing, tragic, laugh-out-loud funny, nothing moving at all. They're the clever deadpan boys at the back of the classroom who hold your attention for a while, until you realize they never say or do anything except critique their surroundings into oblivion.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: Funny story and GREAT music ! Buy the DVD and the sound track !
Rating:
Summary: What A Pitiful Movie!
Review: This movie is a waste of time and production. It does not stay on the same story-line throughout any parts of the movie and the acting is hideous. The gags, though original, are not even funny. How can anyone like or enjoy this movie!?!
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Summary: Homer meets The Three Stooges in the Mississippi Delta!
Review: Alright, folks... here's your riddle of the day: Whaddaya get if you cross the Three Stooges with the Greek poet Homer? "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" that's what! Here is another superb comedy finely crafted by screenwriters /producers/ directors Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Turturro, it features a brilliantly written script, superb acting by a wonderful ensemble cast, and a musical score that's simply second to none. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a simple story really... set in the Mississippi delta region during the Great Depression, it's the tale of three petty criminals who escape from the chain gang in quest of buried treasure and experience a series of misadventures along the way. Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney) is the silver-tongued, self-appointed leader of this odd trio, a man who claims to have stolen and buried over a million dollars in cash. Delmar O'Donnell is the docile, sweet-tempered dimwit (played to perfection by Tim Blake Nelson). The third member of our little gang is an irritable, acerbic fella named Pete. Together they set off, chained to each other, in search of McGill's treasure, which is buried somewhere about to become a man-made lake. Our heroes have only four days to find the loot before it's lost forever at the bottom of the newly created reservoir. As they begin their journey, the run across an old blind seer who prophesies that they will find a fortune, but not the one they seek. with a posse of law enforcement officers and vigilantes hot on their heels, Everett, Pete and Delmar ditch their chains and prison garb and continue on their quest. Our trio's journey is anything but quiet and uneventful. They continually run into strange people and situations... At one point, soon after stealing a car and picking up a guitar-playing hitch-hiker, they stop at a local radio station and, posing as an "old-timey" music group called the "Soggy Bottom Boys," they cut a record that's soon all the rage throughout the region. Later they encounter a Baptist congregation at river's edge, singing a beautiful song, lulling our heroes into sweet forgetfulness for a few brief moments. They happen upon three washer-women, also at river's edge, whose siren-like song ensnares our three miscreants... George Nelson, a bank robber on the run, who nearly co-opts our heroes into a REAL life of crime... the one-eyed, fast-talking Bible salesman Dan Teague (played by John Goodman) who offers Everett, Pete, and Delmar a hard lesson on economics and life in general in the Depression-ravaged Deep South... and other characters as well: Governor Pappy "Pass the Biscuits" O'Daniel, running for re-election against a reform-minded candidate named Homer Stokes... Everett's ex-wife Penny, soon to me re-married to a real drone named Vernon Waldrip... and a whole gang of fellas dressed in white sheets and hoods who take exception to our heroes' intrusion into their ceremonies. One of "O Brother, Where Art Thou's?" greatest strengths is its musical score. As the Coen brothers point out, nary a scene goes by without some kind of music in the background. The songs - 19 of them by my count - are all wonderful. It's a sublime mixture of old-time gospel and country music and African-American spirituals. From James Carter and the Prisoners' "Po' Lazarus," through Alison Krause's sweetly simple and reverent "Down to the River to Pray" (with brilliant harmonies added by the First Baptist Choir of White House, Tennessee); the old-time country classics "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" and "Hard Rock Candy Mountain," and "You Are My Sunshine;" to the old-time Gospel classics "Keep On the Sunny Side;" "I'll Fly Away" and "I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)," (and many other songs as well), the music adds an extra dimension to this already multi-faceted film. (By the way, all these songs can be found on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack compact disc... but that's another review!) I've now watched "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" about a dozen times. Each viewing has been a genuine pleasure for me. This film is clever in its conception, extraordinary in its execution, sublime in its storytelling, and masterful in its music. In short... wonderfully entertaining in every respect. A definite "must-see" for movie-lovers everywhere!
Rating: 
Summary: Playful Coen brothers romp is a bit uneven
Review: Joel and Ethan Cohen, two brothers from the Midwest, have been making quirky, flamboyant movies for two decades. They have created some delightful films, including Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and Fargo. O Brother, Where Art Thou? isn't one of their best efforts. It has some great scenes and superb acting, but the whole thing never quite adds up to a satisfactory whole. Still, even a minor Cohen movie ranks above the Hollywood average. The movie is based loosely - very loosely! - on Homer's epic Greek poem, The Odyssey. It takes place in the Mississippi Delta during the Great Depression of the 1930s. When it opens, Ulysses, Pete and Delmar [George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson] are escaping from a chain gang, and they spend most of the rest of the movie running from the law. Ulysses talks the other into escaping by claiming he buried the loot from a big robbery. They have to get to it quickly, he says, because the place where he buried it is about to be flooded for the creation of a lake. Their madcap adventures cause them to meet many strange, eccentric characters. There is the blind man who endlessly rides the rails and foretells the futures of those he meets. They meet the Bible salesman from hell, enthusiastically played by John Goodman, as well as three sirens who set out to seduce and rob them, a black blues musician who has just sold his soul the Devil at the crossroads, and Ulysses' wacky wife and daughters. They find some interesting discoveries, as well as some ugly surprises. As is typical of a Cohen brothers film, this one is fast-paced and rarely gives the audience time to think about what it has just seen. The movie is more a series of vignettes than it is a well structured story. Scenes that work are both hilarious and impressive, but the problem is that others fall flat. Also, the ending is uninspired, as if the team were unable to come up with a suitable punch line to their tale. Most of the actors here have worked with the Cohens before, which allows them to be quite comfortable in their roles. Tim Blake Nelson, as dimwitted Delmar, and Holly Hunter, as Ulysses' wife, are standout. This is George Clooney's first picture with this group, but he has no trouble fitting in. He is very good and very funny. In fact, in the last five years he has become one of my favorite actors.
Rating:
Summary: "Damn, we're in a tight spot... Damn, we're in a tight spot"
Review: I am a really big fan of the Cohen brothers. They are one of the most original and wickedly funny filmmaking teams to come along in some time. I've seen just about all of their movies, but of all their great films, I think this has to be my absolute favorite. I didn't go see this in the theater, because I had read some negative reviews of it, but when this came on video, my cousin who works in a video store told that it was hilarious. So one night while his wife was working third-shift, he brought it home and I came over, we ordered a pizza, cracked a few brews, and watched this movie. Let me say that I don't know if I've EVER laughed so hard in my life. It's just a fun thing to watch and listen to. So many great one-liners and oddball humor, the dialect, the ridiculous situations, the way Clooney sends up his own dapper image, as well as his hopeless attempts to lead the trio. I just can't get enough of this, fa'real. They play a group of escaped convicts who are determined to find some buried treasure that Ulysseus CLAIMS he knows where is. The film is loosely based on Homer's 'The Odyssey', but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy the movie unless you're familiar with the book. I haven't read it since like the 9th grade, so I'm a little dusty on picking up all the references myself, but I still thought this movie was hilarious. I'm gonna have to go back and re-read it someday. The scene right after their encounter with the singing muses at the lake, when Ulysseus and Delmar think Pete has been turned into a toad is absolutely gut-busting. Then when they come across him in the movie theater... damn, I can't even finish explaining the scene because I'm laughing so much right now just thinking about it. The acting is absolutely superb, particularly John Turturro as Pete who proves once again that he is one of the most underrated and multi-faceted actors working today. The story is comical and always interesting, and the cinematography looks fantastic perfectly re-creating the bleak, dusty, bone-dry Depression Era South of the 1930s. The Cohen brothers are absolute cinematic geniuses and have proven it time and time again over the years. It's just all in good fun. They don't take their art too seriously, and therefore they make TRULY GREAT art. 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' is a modern classic, and if you don't get into upon your first viewing, then watch it again and I guarantee you it will grow on you. After my first viewing at my cousin' house I immediately went out and bought this movie, and since then I've watched it probably a good thirteen or fourteen times at least. I mean, I just can't get enough of it. The only recent movie that can even compare to it in terms of originality and entertainment is probably 'Snatch' which incidently I also have watched a ridiculous amount of times. And, on a final note, the bluegrass tunes in this movie are wildly addicitive, even if you don't like that kind of music. I find myself humming 'A Man of Constant Sorrow' to myself all the time.
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